Daniel J Wozniak
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology
Chronic infections often involve more than one kind of bacterium, and mixed infections can behave very differently from single-species ones, sometimes becoming harder to treat. This research asks how bacteria that share an infection compete with or help each other, and how those interactions shape disease and treatment.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Staphylococcus aureus
Mycobacterium abscessus
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Apr 2029
What they work on
- Define how Psl, a secreted sugar polymer of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, suppresses Staphylococcus aureus growth and interacts with S. aureus protein A (SpA), using several complementary strategies.
- Determine the pathways by which the P. aeruginosa molecule HQNO boosts production of staphyloxanthin, a protective S. aureus pigment, and test whether this protects mixed infections from reactive oxygen and neutrophil killing in vivo.
- Investigate how a first S. aureus infection metabolically reprograms human and mouse macrophages, leading to epigenetic changes that silence innate immune genes, using primary macrophages and animal models.
- Identify the new mechanism by which P. aeruginosa kills Mycobacterium abscessus only in dual-species biofilms, since known killing, motility and nutrient-sequestering systems are not required.
- Examine P. aeruginosa and M. abscessus interactions under growth conditions that closely mimic the host lung environment.
- Evaluate bacteriophage cocktails used alongside antibiotics against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa in single- and mixed-species models, then track how phage therapy reshapes the wound microbiota in vivo with eco-systems biology approaches.
More about the research
The central organism is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common opportunistic pathogen that forms biofilms (slimy, surface-attached bacterial communities) in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF), in wounds and on medical devices. One project studies its relationship with Staphylococcus aureus. A second studies how it inhibits the drug-resistant mycobacterium Mycobacterium abscessus. A third develops bacteria-killing viruses as a treatment for wound infections.
Why it matters
People with cystic fibrosis, COPD, non-CF bronchiectasis and chronic wounds often carry persistent mixed infections that resist antibiotics and the immune system. By revealing how P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and M. abscessus help or harm each other, this work could point to new biofilm targets that make antibiotics work better. Phage cocktails used together with antibiotics may offer a new treatment option for chronic wound infections caused by multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa, a growing problem in health care.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jennifer Melinda Bomberger
Dartmouth College, NH·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether TsiT, a T6SS immunity protein that resembles LysR-type gene regulators, acts as a transcriptional regulator that controls Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation.
William DePas
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how the chemical environment of cystic fibrosis sputum regulates biofilm formation by nontuberculous mycobacteria and how biofilms affect antibiotic tolerance, using a new aggregation assay and MiPACT-HCR imaging.
Stephen Dolan
Clemson University, SC·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Define the molecular basis of communication between Aspergillus fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, mediated by the toxins gliotoxin and hydrogen cyanide, by co-culturing them in synthetic cystic fibrosis sputum.
The school
Ohio State University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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