On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Josh Lensmire. Josh is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Josh’s research focuses on the pathogen methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA. MRSA is capable of growing in various human organs and it needs to gather nutrients from our bodies to grow and cause disease. One specific nutrient Josh’s research focuses on is sulfur, a nutrient key for MRSA metabolism. The goal of Josh’s research is to determine the compounds MRSA scavenges from our bodies to satisfy its sulfur need. To study this Josh uses a combination of genetic and approaches and examination of the ability of various MRSA mutants to grow in a model of infection in mice. One day, this research may allow us to design strategies to stop MRSA from growing inside our bodies.
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