Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This grant is to acquire instrumentation that will be shared by four highly active research laboratories to study gene expression and gene regulation in various important bacterial pathogens. The equipment will allow these researchers to measure how active certain genes are that are involved in the disease process. The bacteria covered in this proposal include pathogens that cause both "strep-throat and flesh eating disease (Streptococcus pyogenes), major gastrointestinal pathogens (Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni), multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and organisms that cause a very dangerous pneumonia in cystic fibrosis patients (Burkholderia cepacia). The research produced from these four investigators is expected to lead to alternative treatment methods for bacterial diseases.