This blog is devoted to BIOL 6988, a graduate level seminar in the biological sciences at Youngstown State University. While targeted towards graduate students, BIOL 6988 actively incorporates undergraduate participants in their scholastic endeavors in the biological sciences. This blog is intended as a educational tool not just for YSU students and faculty, but for anyone who wishes to contribute to an active-learning environment.
This Friday, please be prepared to interact with Dr. Caguiat following the presentation of his current research efforts. I am positive that this will be an interesting talk.
Last week Dr. Caguiat gave an interesting presentation on one of the projects he has recently worked on. The project focused on identifying a putative ampG ampicillin resistance gene in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia OR02 or S. maltophilia 02. S. maltophilia 02 is an opportunistic pathogen that can potentially cause respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, and blood stream infections.
Gram positive and negative bacteria possess a peptidoglycan ring that acts as a key support mechanism to maintain cell wall integrity. Antibiotics, like penicillin, damage this ring when the cell is growing which can lead to the death of the cell. However, penicillin has more difficulty damaging gram negative bacteria, because they possess an extra protective layer that covers the peptidoglycan ring.
One issue with S. maltophilia 02 is that it is resistant to common antibiotics such as streptomycin, ampicillin, and kanamycin. An important feature of their antibiotic resistance is the possession of beta galactamases. These enzymes can break down antibiotics, rendering important medical solutions useless. Therefore, the goal of this experiment was to use transposon mutagenesis to find an ampicillin sensitive mutant of this bacterial strain and use Gene rescue, DNA sequencing, and Basic Local Alignment Tool to help sequence the DNA and confirm what it is. The hypothesis of the experiment was to find a gene that encodes for beta lactamase. Although they did not find this gene, they found a gene that regulates the beta-lactamase gene. They also discovered that there was more than one resistance gene in S. maltophilia.
Dr. Caguiat then proposed a couple of ways that S. maltophilia could be medically dealt with in the future. One way was to be able to essentially turn off the ampG gene, since it is needed for expression of functional lactamases. The other possible solution is approaching the problem using phage display. If you were a researcher facing this fork in the road, which approach would you take? Why would you choose this approach?
Dr. Caguiat presentation was interesting having done entirely all the methods in the project during the gene manipulation lab. if i were a researcher facing this fork on the road i could use phage display technology to detect specific peptides against the S. maltophilia.
Dr. Caguiat's work is what I always had in mind when I pictured "scientist." His work with S. maltophilia and ways it has become resistant to antibiotics such as ampicillin gives me hope that we can treat diseases by understanding how they work on a functional level. The better we understand our problems the better solutions we can create to solve them. I suspect Dr. Caguiat's work can help us find ways to combat S. maltophilia. Perhaps we could develop treatment that causes mutagenesis or knockout at a ampG promoter site, preventing B-lactamase expression. While phage display may also provide another method of developing treatment, I think for now focusing on eliminating ampG expression might be the best route to try.
I enjoyed hearing about Dr. Caguiat's research. It was interesting to learn about what he has been doing and being in his lab currently helped in understanding the different techniques he uses.
I think I would like to see what would happen for turning off the ampG gene because this could help with antibiotic resistance so that tolerance of them might not occur as frequently and they could still be used.
I also enjoyed hearing about Dr. Caguiat's research. Their work with S. maltophilia and how that bacteria became resistant to common antibiotics, encourages the prospect of combating antibiotic resistant bacteria in the future. I think finding a way to turn off ampG expression would be a good approach to take since, this would essentially decrease the antibiotic resistance in the bacteria.
I would use any of the approaches that agree more with my research area.I believe being able to use a method to essentially turn off the AmpG gene to prevent B-lactomase expression or using phage display technology to detect specific peptides against S. maltophilia are interesting approaches and if both can help identify the resistant genes or prevent the expression of the resistant genes in S. maltophilia,i would as a researcher choose based on my field of research.
I think I would approach this problem by trying to knock out the ampG gene. Developing the technology and procedure to do so would open the door to treating other pathogenic species the same way and help eliminate the issue of antibiotic resistant microbes. Allowing us to use traditional treatment methods on what has become antibiotic resistant microbes plaguing our healthcare system. Although, I wouldn't completely rule out the phage display technic to solve the problem.
In the Microbial Physiology lab course, I had the opportunity to use many of the same methods discussed in Dr. Caguiat's presentation. However, I had not known about his work with S. Maltophilia. Given these choices, I would continue work with the AmpG gene, and develop some method of knocking out the gene in the microbe. Since this is a regulatory gene, the microbe will be less likely to develop resistance to it as quickly as it does a structural gene.
Dr. Caguiat's presentation was super interesting! Nathan makes an excellent point in saying that once we understand genes on a functional level we can hopefully solve the problems they present more effectively. I'm allergic to so many medications so to me this presents an opportunity to potentially prevent my body from a growing resistance to the medications I am able to take.
As a new thesis student in Dr. Caguiat's lab, I was very interested to learn more about his research. I would choose the approach of turning off the ampG gene. I agree with Anna's comment to turn off the ampG gene, and that it could lead to treating other pathogenic species. I believe this will help not only the S. maltophilia strain, but open the door to others as well.
Last week Dr. Caguiat gave an interesting presentation on one of the projects he has recently worked on. The project focused on identifying a putative ampG ampicillin resistance gene in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia OR02 or S. maltophilia 02. S. maltophilia 02 is an opportunistic pathogen that can potentially cause respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, and blood stream infections.
ReplyDeleteGram positive and negative bacteria possess a peptidoglycan ring that acts as a key support mechanism to maintain cell wall integrity. Antibiotics, like penicillin, damage this ring when the cell is growing which can lead to the death of the cell. However, penicillin has more difficulty damaging gram negative bacteria, because they possess an extra protective layer that covers the peptidoglycan ring.
One issue with S. maltophilia 02 is that it is resistant to common antibiotics such as streptomycin, ampicillin, and kanamycin. An important feature of their antibiotic resistance is the possession of beta galactamases. These enzymes can break down antibiotics, rendering important medical solutions useless. Therefore, the goal of this experiment was to use transposon mutagenesis to find an ampicillin sensitive mutant of this bacterial strain and use Gene rescue, DNA sequencing, and Basic Local Alignment Tool to help sequence the DNA and confirm what it is. The hypothesis of the experiment was to find a gene that encodes for beta lactamase. Although they did not find this gene, they found a gene that regulates the beta-lactamase gene. They also discovered that there was more than one resistance gene in S. maltophilia.
Dr. Caguiat then proposed a couple of ways that S. maltophilia could be medically dealt with in the future. One way was to be able to essentially turn off the ampG gene, since it is needed for expression of functional lactamases. The other possible solution is approaching the problem using phage display. If you were a researcher facing this fork in the road, which approach would you take? Why would you choose this approach?
Dr. Caguiat presentation was interesting having done entirely all the methods in the project during the gene manipulation lab. if i were a researcher facing this fork on the road i could use phage display technology to detect specific peptides against the S. maltophilia.
ReplyDeleteDr. Caguiat's work is what I always had in mind when I pictured "scientist." His work with S. maltophilia and ways it has become resistant to antibiotics such as ampicillin gives me hope that we can treat diseases by understanding how they work on a functional level. The better we understand our problems the better solutions we can create to solve them. I suspect Dr. Caguiat's work can help us find ways to combat S. maltophilia. Perhaps we could develop treatment that causes mutagenesis or knockout at a ampG promoter site, preventing B-lactamase expression. While phage display may also provide another method of developing treatment, I think for now focusing on eliminating ampG expression might be the best route to try.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed hearing about Dr. Caguiat's research. It was interesting to learn about what he has been doing and being in his lab currently helped in understanding the different techniques he uses.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to see what would happen for turning off the ampG gene because this could help with antibiotic resistance so that tolerance of them might not occur as frequently and they could still be used.
I also enjoyed hearing about Dr. Caguiat's research. Their work with S. maltophilia and how that bacteria became resistant to common antibiotics, encourages the prospect of combating antibiotic resistant bacteria in the future. I think finding a way to turn off ampG expression would be a good approach to take since, this would essentially decrease the antibiotic resistance in the bacteria.
ReplyDeleteI would use any of the approaches that agree more with my research area.I believe being able to use a method to essentially turn off the AmpG gene to prevent B-lactomase expression or using phage display technology to detect specific peptides against S. maltophilia are interesting approaches and if both can help identify the resistant genes or prevent the expression of the resistant genes in S. maltophilia,i would as a researcher choose based on my field of research.
ReplyDeleteI think I would approach this problem by trying to knock out the ampG gene. Developing the technology and procedure to do so would open the door to treating other pathogenic species the same way and help eliminate the issue of antibiotic resistant microbes. Allowing us to use traditional treatment methods on what has become antibiotic resistant microbes plaguing our healthcare system. Although, I wouldn't completely rule out the phage display technic to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteIn the Microbial Physiology lab course, I had the opportunity to use many of the same methods discussed in Dr. Caguiat's presentation. However, I had not known about his work with S. Maltophilia. Given these choices, I would continue work with the AmpG gene, and develop some method of knocking out the gene in the microbe. Since this is a regulatory gene, the microbe will be less likely to develop resistance to it as quickly as it does a structural gene.
ReplyDeleteDr. Caguiat's presentation was super interesting! Nathan makes an excellent point in saying that once we understand genes on a functional level we can hopefully solve the problems they present more effectively. I'm allergic to so many medications so to me this presents an opportunity to potentially prevent my body from a growing resistance to the medications I am able to take.
ReplyDeleteAs a new thesis student in Dr. Caguiat's lab, I was very interested to learn more about his research. I would choose the approach of turning off the ampG gene. I agree with Anna's comment to turn off the ampG gene, and that it could lead to treating other pathogenic species. I believe this will help not only the S. maltophilia strain, but open the door to others as well.
ReplyDelete