Lauren Gileau presents Burkholder Lab research at the American Society of Microbiology conference

Lauren Gileau (Nursing, ’17) and Kristin Burkholder, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, attended the American Society of Microbiology meeting in Boston from June 16 to June 20, 2016.  Gileau presented a research poster titled “Lactic acid bacteria reduce Salmonella Javiana-induced epithelial cell cytotoxicity and decrease pathogen virulence gene expression.”  Several undergraduate researchers from the Burkholder lab were co-authors on the work, including Dylan Fletcher (Biology, ’17), Ryan Camire (Nursing, ’15) and Shea Goudreau (Biology, ’15). 

In this study, the authors demonstrate that several species of probiotic bacteria, such as those commonly found in fermented foods like yogurt, can mitigate damage to human intestinal epithelial cells caused by the emerging gastrointestinal pathogen Salmonella Javiana.  One potential mechanism underlying the protective effect of the probiotic bacteria is their ability to reduce expression of key S. Javiana virulence genes.  These findings suggest that certain probiotics may be useful as prophylactics against S. Javiana infection.

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