MicroArray Lab Research Topics
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Statement of interest
There are two central premises that guide the activities in my lab.
(1) We recognize that with few exceptions bacterial species encompass
considerable genetic diversity. This is best illustrated through whole genome
sequences that have shown that less than half of the genes carried by a given
strain of Escherichia coli are necessary to “make” an E. coli. The remaining
genes are presumably used to equip different strains to reside in specific
niches.
(2) The Theory of Natural Selection leads us to predict that the distribution
of genetic diversity within a species is not random. If genetically encoded
traits lend fitness advantages in different niches, then natural selection will
order the variation within a species. These two premises lead us to conclude
that by studying the distribution of genetic diversity we can make inferences
and formulate hypotheses about how pathogens make their living. This conclusion
motivates much of the research in my laboratory involving a diverse array of
organisms. Our primary focus is food- and water-borne disease agents that are
bacterial, although we work on a number of other projects both independently and
collaboratively.
Food- and Water-borne Pathogens and Antibiotic
Resistance
Through collaborations investigators in the WSU College of Veterinary
Medicine
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and
Pathology,
Field
Disease Investigation Unit,
Washington Animal Disease
Diagnostic Laboratory, and
Agricultural Animal Health
Program, the WSU
School of
Molecular Biosciences and
College of Engineering and
Architecture, the
USDA-ARS-ADRU, the
WSU Zoonosis Research Unit,
and a number of off-campus collaborators, we are engaged in projects
involving most of the leading causes of bacterial food-borne disease. Below
you will find links to different projects and relevant citations that
describe our efforts.
Salmonella enterica
Comparative genetics
Surveillance
Subtyping
Antibiotic resistance
Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli
Antibiotic resistance
Comparative genetics
Vaccine development
Escherichia coli
Comparative genetics
Plasmids of STEC and EHEC serovars
Listeria monocytogenes
Comparative genetics
Genetic subtyping
Gene expression under stress conditions
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
Type III secretion systems
Detection assay development
Comparative genetics
Antibiotic resistance and mobile elements
Evolution and maintenance of antibiotic resistance
blaCMY-2
elements and 3rd generation cephalosporin resistance
Comparative genetics of resistance plasmids
Genotyping microarrays
Pathogen detection (reviews)
Bacterial source tracking
Library-independent genetic marker development (Enterococcus)
Assay development and application
Stochastic modeling
Aquaculture and Salmonid Recovery
Through collaborations investigators in the WSU
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, the
College of Agricultural, Human, & Natural
Resource Sciences, the
School of Biological Sciences, the
Washington Animal Disease
Diagnostic Laboratory, the
University of Idaho,
Idaho State University, the
WSU
& UI Center for Reproductive Biology, USDA-ARS, and the National Marine
Fisheries Service, we are engaged in projects involving pathogen
diagnostics, Bacterial Coldwater Disease, Bacterial Kidney Disease, and
Strawberry Disease. Our work has applications both for trout aquaculture and
for the conservation of wild salmonid fishes. Below you will find links to
different projects and relevant citations that describe our efforts.
Coldwater Disease (Flavobacterium psychrophilum)
Comparative genetics and phylogenetics
Vaccine discovery
Molecular and other diagnostics
Strawberry Disease
Last Edited: Dec 26, 2007 4:54 PM
