[et_pb_section fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_slider admin_label=”Fullwidth Slider” show_arrows=”on” show_pagination=”on” auto=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” module_id=”interior”][et_pb_slide background_image=”https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/cfrtc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/microscope.jpg” background_color=”#ffffff” alignment=”center” background_layout=”dark” \/][\/et_pb_fullwidth_slider][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Fellowships Sidebar” orientation=”left” area=”et_pb_widget_area_11″ background_layout=”light” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Past Fellow Thao text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n
Fellow: Sandy Thao, PhD
\nMicrobiology<\/p>\n
Mentor: \u00a0Caroline Harwood, PhD Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/em> is adept at living in microaerobic and anaerobic environments. This is likely one of many features that allows it to proliferate in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients where it is the predominant opportunistic pathogen. P. aeruginosa<\/em> forms thick biofilms in the CF lung and cells within the biofilm are exposed to gradients of nutrients and oxygen, depending on their spatial location in the matrix. During chronic infection P. aeruginosa<\/em> within the deeper layers of biofilms manage to survive by maintaining slow growth and lower rates of metabolism. Very slowly growing cells are also more resistant to antibiotics. The goal of this project is to characterize the physiology of P. aeruginosa<\/em> cells that are growing very slowly. Although slow growth is important for the ability of P. aeruginosa<\/em> to persist in the CF lung, the molecular basis for this has not been investigated. Work will be done with the model laboratory P. aeruginosa<\/em> strain, PAO1, as well as an early and late-stage isolate from a CF patient to characterize global patterns of gene expression during slow growth. Genes that are important for slow growth will be identified and characterized biochemically. By identifying genes regulated and\/or are important for the regulation of cellular function under conditions that would force P. aeruginosa<\/em> to slow its metabolism, a better understanding of its ability to survive and thrive during chronic infection of the lung will be gained. This may lead to the development of improved treatment options for CF infections.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow: Sandy Thao, PhD Mentor: \u00a0Caroline Harwood, PhD P.I.: Ian de boer, MD<\/a>
\n<\/a>Professor,\u00a0Microbiology<\/p>\n
\nMicrobiology<\/p>\n
\nProfessor
\nMicrobiology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
Associate Professor of Medicine
Nephrology<\/p>