PREDICTING THE EMERGENCE OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE THROUGH MULTI-OMICS APPROACHES AND IMMUNE SYSTEM-SURVEILLANCE

The rise of antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations reflects inadequate counterselection by the antibiotic itself, by host immunity, or by fitness costs of the resistance mechanism. Our inability to control resistance stems from limited understanding of these three forces of selection and especially of the interplay between antibiotic dosage, how bacteria populations respond to antibiotics, and host immunity. This project maps these interactions in high definition for the bacterial pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii, both of which are serious threats and can cause antibiotic-resistant pneumonia. Specifically, in this project, RNA-seq is applied to construct transcriptional networks. These interactions will be studied in vitro, using standard culture and under resistance-inducing conditions, including biofilms on plastic surfaces that are often the source of nosocomial A. baumannii infections.