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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Prof. Nicole Sampson, Stony Brook University
Mycobacteria on Steroids: Metabolomics and Pathogenesis
New drugs with novel mechanisms of action are required to meet the severe threat to human health posed by the emergence of multidrug and extensively drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis (M. tb). The ability of M. tb to metabolize cholesterol is critical for the maintenance of the M. tb infection; both the igr operon and fadA5 are required for in vitro growth using cholesterol as a sole carbon source. However, mutation of these genes involved in cholesterol metabolism results in different in vivo phenotypes. We are elucidating the function of these genes, their corresponding enzymes, and their role in cholesterol metabolism using a combination of transcriptional profiling, bioinformatics, enzymology, biochemistry, and metabolic phenotype screening. Ultimately, understanding cholesterol metabolism at the molecular level will direct drug discovery towards novel targets that attenuate M. tb growth and persistence in vivo.
For more information contact Prof. Andrew Lyon (404-894-4090).
