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George E. Kenny, Ph.D.

Professor, Pathobiology
(University of Minnesota, 1961)

Email: kennyg@u.washington.edu

Current Research Interests:
1. Susceptibilities of human mycoplasmas to new antimicrobial agents (qunolones, ketolides, streptogramins, oxazolidinones and new derivatives of older agents).
2. Determination of the mutations in topoisomerase genes involved in susceptibility and resistance to quinolones.
3. Study of the role of Mycoplasma genitalium in non-gonococcal, non-chlamydial urethritis.

My current interests are a response to research needs prompted by the ever increasing role of antibiotic resistance in humans disease. Mycoplasmas are good model for infections involving mutations in bacterial genes because of their high mutation frequency which is one thousand-fold greater than that of classical bacteria such as Escherichia coli. Mycoplasma genitalium is a nearly impossible organism to grow. In studies using the polymerase chain reaction, we have shown that M. genitalium could cause as much as 10-20% of non-gonococcal urethritis. This is an exciting finding and needs to be pursued.