The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Bonnie Bassler, Ph.D., Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and director, Council on Science and Technology, Princeton University

Speaker bio(s)

Bacteria communicate with one another via the production and detection of secreted signal molecules called autoinducers. This cell-to-cell communication process, called “Quorum Sensing,” allows bacteria to synchronize behavior on a population-wide scale. Behaviors controlled by quorum sensing are usually ones that are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium acting alone, but become effective when undertaken in unison by the group. For example, quorum sensing controls virulence, biofilm formation, sporulation and the exchange of DNA. Thus, quorum sensing is a mechanism that allows bacteria to function as multi-cellular organisms. Gram-negative bacteria use acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) autoinducers, which are detected by one of two receptor types, cytoplasmic LuxR-type receptors or membrane-bound LuxN-type receptors. Dr. Bassler's lab found small molecule antagonists of LuxN-type receptors that are also potent antagonists of LuxR-type receptors, despite differences in receptor structure, localization, AHL specificity and signaling mechanism. Structural studies combined with mutagenesis allowed the scientists to pinpoint the amino acid residues in the receptors that are critical for conferring agonist and antagonist activity to different ligands. The lab's most potent quorum-sensing antagonist protects animals from quorum-sensing-mediated killing by pathogenic bacteria and prevents biofilm formation in model microfluidics chambers that mimic medical devices. These results validate the notion that targeting quorum sensing has potential for antimicrobial drug development.

 

Dr. Bassler received her B.S. in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University.  She performed postdoctoral work in genetics at the Agouron Institute, and joined the Princeton faculty in 1994. Dr. Bassler currently chairs Princeton University’s Council on Science and Technology which has revamped the science curriculum for humanists. In 2002, Dr. Bassler was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology. She was given the 2003 Theobald Smith Society Waksman Award in 2004 and was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the 2006 recipient of the American Society for Microbiology’s Eli Lilly Investigator Award for fundamental contributions to microbiological research. In 2008, Dr. Bassler was given Princeton University’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 2009 she received the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Science. She is the 2011 recipient of the National Academies’ Richard Lounsbery Award and the 2012 UNESCO-L’Oreal Women in Science award for North America. Dr. Bassler was president of the American Society for Microbiology from 2010 to 2011 and is currently chair of the American Academy of Microbiology Board of Governors. She has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 2005 and President Obama nominated her for membership on the National Science Board.

 

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Alena Powell

Phone

(212) 327-7745

Sponsor

Alena Powell
(212) 327-7745
apowell@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3168