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Faculty ProfileValerie Grosso
Education:
Research Interests:Bacteria in both human infections and the environment are most often found as members of multicellular microbial communities. I use a molecular genetic approach to study interactions between microbes within two different communities. One project investigates how the periodontal pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans can adhere to surfaces, a process that is necessary for pathogenesis. A second project looks at the interaction between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia, two microbes that can co-infect the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Specifically, my lab investigates the role of competition over iron in determining virulence gene expression and biofilm formation by each species. Possible Student Projects:
Publications:Grosso VW, Tomich M, Fine D and D Figurski. Structure-Function analysis of the major pilin subunit Flp1 in Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. (submitted manuscript) Weaver VB and R Kolter. Burkholderia spp. alter Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology through iron sequestration. Journal of Bacteriology. 2004; 186:2376-2384 Smith MA, Weaver VB, Young DM and LN Ornston. Genes for chlorogenate and hydroxycinnamate catabolism (hca) are linked to functionally related genes in the dca-pca-qui-pob-hca chromosomal cluster of Acinetobacter sp. strain ADP1. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2003; 69:524-32 O'Toole GA, Pratt LA, Watnick PI, Newman DK, Weaver VB and R Kolter. Genetic Approaches to Study of Biofilms. Methods In Enzymology. 1999; 310:91-109
Contact Information:Office: 410 Leo Engineering Building
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