"To cause an infection somewhere, the microbe must first be able to get there. The incidental journey microbes take on their way to causing infections is imprinted in, and thus can be unraveled from, the genomes of clinical isolates."
The Calix lab (Est. 2021) focuses on the microbial and environmental determinants that facilitate the propagation (transmission, niche colonization, population persistence, etc.) of pathogenic bacteria among individuals at risk of eventual opportunistic infections. Our goal is to identify key pathobiological "choke points" that can be targeted by preventative efforts against modern-day bacterial pathogens, with current focus on Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter and non-vaccine serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Our translational research strategy begins with elucidating the molecular epidemiology of infections through next-generation sequencing of clinical isolates supplemented by clinical metadata. This aids in identifying microbial factors of interest and the building of clinically-relevant hypotheses. We subsequently investigate these factors using clinical isolates, and combining benchtop immunological/ biochemical/ molecular microbiology techniques and non-animal models. We have special interests in bacterial surfaces and microbial glycobiology.
