Our pediatric infectious diseases faculty are recognized for outstanding research related to childhood infections.
SHARPS Collaborative
The SHARPS (Sharing Antimicrobial Reports for Pediatric Stewardship) collaborative focuses on establishing best practices for the use of antimicrobials among hospitalized children.
Publications
Collected here are recent publications by our investigators.
Our labs
Fritz Lab
Stephanie Fritz, MD, MSCI
Our research team studies the epidemiology, microbial virulence mechanisms and host defenses against community-associated methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) colonization and disease.
Green Lab
Abby Green, MD
Cancer develops through accumulation of DNA mutations and structural aberrations collectively known as genome instability. Genome damage in adult-onset malignancies can be traced to exogenous carcinogens or simply the process of aging. However, pediatric cancers do not arise as a result of aging or exogenous genotoxic agents. We are interested in the etiology of genome instability in pediatric cancers and the resulting genome-protective responses — also called DNA damage responses — that are activated. Our long-term goal is to identify predictors of mutagenesis and therapeutic vulnerabilities within DNA damage response pathways in order to develop new treatment options for children with cancer.
Hunstad Lab
David A. Hunstad, MD
Work in our lab focuses on the interactions of pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria with their hosts, using urinary tract infection (UTI) as our primary model. We aim to elucidate host-pathogen interactions in the urinary tract, modulation of host immune responses by uropathogenic bacteria, and the influence of sex on UTI pathogenesis.
Janowski Lab
Andrew Janowski, MD, MSCI
The COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last pandemic, as human populations will remain susceptible to newly emerging viruses. While the techniques for viral discovery have greatly expanded the number of known viral sequences, many fundamental questions regarding the biology of viruses can only be addressed through isolation and propagation of viruses in the laboratory setting.
Kao Lab
Carol M. Kao, MD
The Kao lab is interested in vaccine effectiveness, particularly in special populations.
Morley Lab
S. Celeste Morley, MD, PhD
Up, down and all around. Immune cells are constantly in motion as they seek to defend the host against pathogens. Dramatic cell shape changes induced by alterations in the underlying actin cytoskeleton provide the structural framework required for cell motility.
Newland Lab
Jason Newland, MD, MEd
The Newland lab is interested in the impact of antimicrobial stewardship programs on the use of antimicrobials in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Many different strategies can be utilized to improve antimicrobial prescribing and it is not clear which strategies are associated with the best antimicrobial reduction and clinical outcomes. Furthermore, the best metrics to evaluate the impact of hospital-based ASPs are not clear.
Orscheln Lab
Rachel C. Orscheln, MD
Treatments and outcomes of bone and joint infection in children.
Orvedahl Lab
Anthony Orvedahl, MD, PhD
We utilize a combination of hypothesis-driven and discovery-based approaches to understand factors that regulate host immune responses to infectious and sterile triggers of severe inflammation. We focus on the cytoplasmic recycling pathway of autophagy, which we found protected macrophages against cytokine-induced cell death and mice against fatal cytokine storm syndrome. However, the relative protective or pathogenic role of autophagy in macrophage survival remains unclear in different contexts. Preliminary findings point towards a critical intersection of these processes with immunometabolism. We are leveraging this experience and developing novel tools to understand the commonalities and peculiarities of cytokine storm syndromes triggered by various etiologies including SARS-CoV-2. The ultimate goal is to develop host-directed therapies for infectious and inflammatory disorders.
Rosen Lab
David A. Rosen, MD, PhD
Our lab focuses on the pathogenesis of Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) — an opportunistic pathogen that is increasingly becoming multidrug resistant. As a result, resistant Kp is deemed “urgent” by the CDC and a “priority pathogen” by the World Health Organization.
Schwartz Lab
Drew J. Schwartz, MD, PhD
Our goal is to deliver personalized gut microbiome-based risk assessment and antibiotic stewardship for pediatric sepsis.
Storch Lab
Gregory A. Storch, MD
Gregory Storch’s research program is devoted to using molecular methods to improve the rapid diagnosis of infections. The infectious agents of choice are those for which existing methods are inadequate, either because the agent cannot be cultivated or because current diagnostic methods are too slow or insufficiently sensitive. The emphasis is on viral and other unconventional agents, in both normal and immunocompromised hosts. He is also interested in pathogen discovery and applications of high-throughput nucleotide sequencing to that process. Storch’s main current research project is a study of viral causes of fever without focus in young children. He also continues to work on developing and evaluating new molecular diagnostic tests.
Wylie Lab
Kristine Wylie, PhD
The Wylie Lab studies the microbiome, microbial infections, and maternal host response during pregnancy. We have particular interest in the human virome, and we are interested in developing and applying innovative technologies for the study of viral communities, viral dynamics, and host response. We are carrying out in vitro studies to understand herpesvirus and papillomavirus infections during pregnancy. We use microbial genomics, in vitro cell culture, and animal models in our work.