Glen Tamura MD/PhD

Glen Tamura MD/PhD
Assistant Professor
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 987-2073

Dr. Tamura's work focuses on adherence of group B streptococci (GBS) to host tissues, a critical step in the pathogenesis of GBS infection. Adherence allows GBS to colonize the rectum and vagina of the mother and to invade the mucosal barriers of the infant to cause sepsis and meningitis. Dr. Tamura's lab is currently investigating the molecular basis for the GBS-host interaction using genetic and biochemical techniques. His lab has successfully identified two host epithelial cell proteins to which GBS adhere, fibronectin and keratin. He and his research staff hypothesize that adherence to epithelial cells is mediated, at least in part, by adherence to these molecules.

Current projects include:

Isolation and characterization of the molecules on the surface of GBS which mediate adherence (adhesins) and the molecules on epithelial cells to which GBS adhere (adhesin receptors).

Cloning of GBS adhesin genes by expressing GBS DNA in a host strain which does not bind to either fibronectin or keratin.

Investigation of the role of these genes in the pathogenesis of disease in an animal model of GBS sepsis.

http://myprofile.cos.com/gtamura

Undergraduate
University of California, Berkeley, B.S., Biochemistry, 1980

Medical School
Stanford University, M.D., Ph.D,1987

Residency
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 1987-90

Fellowship
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 1991-94

Tamura GS, Hull JR, Oberg MD, Castner DG (2006). High-affinity interaction between fibronectin and the group B streptococcal C5a peptidase is unaffected by a naturally occurring four-amino-acid deletion that eliminates peptidase activity. Infect Immun 74(10):5739-46.

Tamura GS, Bratt DS, Yim HH, Nittayajarn A (2005), Use of glnQ as a counterselectable marker for creation of allelic exchange mutations in group B streptococci. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:587-90.

Glen S. Tamura and Aphakorn Nittayajarn. Group B Streptococci bind to cytokeratin 8. Infect Immun 68(4): 2129-34, 2000.

Glen S. Tamura, Julie A. Przekwas, Michael D. Herndon, Craig E. Rubens, Patricia Ferrieri, and Sharon Hillier. Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the insertion sequence IS1381 in group B streptococci. J Infect Disease 181(1):364-8, 2000.

Glen S. Tamura and Craig E. Rubens. Group B Streptococci adhere to a variant of fibronectin attached to a solid phase. Molec Microbiol 15(3):581-589, 1995.

Glen S. Tamura, Jane M. Kuypers, Susan Smith, Howard Raff, and Craig E. Rubens. Adherence of Group B Streptococci to Cultured Epithelial cells: Roles of Environmental Factors and Bacterial Surface Components. Infect Immun 62(6):2450-2458, 1994.