Scott Weissman MD

Scott Weissman MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 221-6329

Dr. Weissman's work focuses on the contribution of fimbrial adaptation to the acquisition of virulence within closely related groups of pathogenic E. coli causing extraintestinal syndromes such as cystitis, bacteremia, and newborn meningitis. This type of adaptation may occur during the global spread of individual clones, during community outbreaks, or even during the course of individual infections. This 'clonal analysis' methodology begins with the evaluation of clinical isolates by molecular fingerprinting techniques to identify clonal groups. Then, analysis of allelic variation in type 1 and P fimbrial genes is performed using traditional and novel evolutionary techniques to produce additional phylogenetic resolution. The effect of amino acid substitutions on adhesin binding function is evaluated in both static (epithelial cell monolayer) and dynamic (flow chamber) assays. Virulence factor carriage patterns are studied to identify clonal acquisitions of novel genetic material that may contribute to extraintestinal pathogenicity, and virulence phenotypes of individual strains are compared in a mouse model of urinary tract infection. These studies are designed to gain insight into the processes by which pathogenic strains arise from commensal populations.

Dr. Weissman's Community of Science webpage

Media
Escherichia coli rolling over T24 bladder cells under high and low shear. Watch Videos

Undergraduate
Yale University, B.A., Psychology, 1990

Yale University, Post-baccalureate study in pre-medicine, 1990-91

Medical School
University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine, 1997

Residency
Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles, 1997-2000

Fellowship
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 2000-03

Chattopadhyay S, Weissman SJ, Minin VN, Russo TA, Dykhuizen DE, Sokurenko EV (2009). High frequency of hotspot mutations in core genes of Escherichia coli due to short-term positive selection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106(30):12412-7.

Qin X, Zerr DM, Weissman SJ, Englund JA, et al (2008). Prevalence and mechanisms of broad-spectrum beta-lactam resistance in Enterobacteriaceae: a children's hospital experience.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother 52(11):3909-14.

Weissman SJ, Beskhlebnaya V, Chesnokova V, Chattopadhyay S, Stamm WE, Hooton TM, Sokurenko EV (2007). Differential stability and trade-off effects of pathoadaptive mutations in the Escherichia coli FimH adhesin. Infect Immun 75(7):3548-55.

Chattopadhyay S, Feldgarden M, Weissman SJ, Dykhuizen DE, van Belle G, Sokurenko EV (2007). Haplotype diversity in "source-sink" dynamics of Escherichia coli urovirulence. J Mol Evol 64(2):204-14.

Weissman SJ, S Chattopadhyay, P Aprikian, M Obata-Yasuoka, Y Yarova-Yarovaya, A Stapleton, W Ba-Thein, D Dykhuizen, JR Johnson, and EV Sokurenko (2006). Clonal analysis reveals high rate of structural mutations in fimbrial adhesins of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. Mol Micro 59(3):975-988.

Johnson JR, Owens KL, Clabots CR, Weissman SJ, Cannon SB (2006). Phylogenetic relationships among clonal groups of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli as assessed by multi-locus sequence analysis. Microbes Infect 8(7):1702-13.

Sokurenko EV, M Feldgarden, E Trintchina, SJ Weissman, S Avagyan, S Chattopadhyay, JR Johnson, and DE Dykhuizen (2004). Selection footprint in the FimH adhesin shows pathoadaptive niche differentiation in Escherichia coli. Mol Biol Evol 21(7):1373-1383.

Qin X, SJ Weissman, MF Chesnut, B Zhang, and L Shen (2004). Kirby-Bauer Disc approximation to detect inducible third-generation cephalosporin resistance in Enterobacteriaceae. Ann Clin Micro Antimicrob 3:13.

Weissman SJ, SL Moseley, DE Dykhuizen, and EV Sokurenko (2003). Enterobacterial adhesins and the case for studying SNPs in bacteria. Trends Micro 11(3):115-117.

Johnson JR, Weissman SJ, Stell AL, Trintchina E, Dykhuizen DE, Sokurenko EV (2001). Clonal and pathotypic analysis of archetypal Escherichia coli cystitis isolate NU14. J Infect Dis 184(12):1556-65.

Badger JL, Wass CA, Weissman SJ, Kim KS (2000). Application of signature-tagged mutagenesis for identification of Escherichia coli K1 genes that contribute to invasion of human brain microvascular endothelial cells. Infect Immun 68(9):5056-61.