Mostly Microbes and Infection

Faculty and students will showcase the creative and insightful research projects they have undertaken this year during Pacific’s annual Research Day, held in conjunction with the Pacific Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference. The events are  Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Presentations will be set up in Innovation Commons, located on the first floor of the William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center. Lunch is provided, and the first 100 attendees will get a Starbucks gift card.

by  David  M.  Ojcius  , Toni Darville and Patrik M. Bavoil Chlamydia is a rampant sexually transmitted disease , the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.

   “The industry I’m in is actually two in one: teaching and research. I love teaching and interacting with students. In many ways I learn as I teach them. I love their enthusiasm and their optimism. The thing about research is you are a student for life. You constantly have to learn new skills. It requires you to be a lifelong learner, which is something I enjoy.”

  “The idea of working in my current field came from my original interest in microorganisms and how they affect the immune system of the host. Previously, I had worked on different pathogens in the body, not those found in the mouth. Most researchers are attracted to fields that are new where there is a lot still to be discovered and the oral microbiome is an area where there is still a lot we don’t know and so much to be learned.”

Yu, Fei, Lanying Du, David Ojcius,   Chungen Pan, and Shibo Jiang. 2020. “Measures for Diagnosing and Treating Infections by a Novel Coronavirus Responsible for a Pneumonia Outbreak Originating in Wuhan, China." Microbes and Infection 22: 74-79.

Researchers characterized ~100 sponge species from the Caribbean to study the sponges' unique microbiomes. They found two distinct microbiome compositions that led to different strategies for feeding & protecting themselves against predators.

  Fourteen Argentines who improved medicine in the world. The National Academy of Medicine pays them tribute in a book.

  After briefly dropping in early months of the COVID19 pandemic in 2020, rates of sexually transmitted infections in US then resurged beyond 2019 levels to finish the year at a record high, according to new CDC data.

Modulation of apoptosis during infection with Chlamydia.

  Water movement across membranes.

  Chlamydia is a rampant sexually transmitted disease , the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.

 David Ojcius on Twitter

“The industry I’m in is actually two in one: teaching and research. I love teaching and interacting with students. In many ways I learn as I teach them. I love their enthusiasm and their optimism. The thing about research is you are a student for life. You constantly have to learn new skills. It requires you to be a lifelong learner, which is something I enjoy.”

“The idea of working in my current field came from my original interest in microorganisms and how they affect the immune system of the host. Previously, I had worked on different pathogens in the body, not those found in the mouth. Most researchers are attracted to fields that are new where there is a lot still to be discovered and the oral microbiome is an area where there is still a lot we don’t know and so much to be learned.”

David Ojcius is Professor at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, USA. He gained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and did research at Rockefeller and Harvard before moving to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, where he worked for thirteen years. His research interests include viruses and intracellular bacteria, interactions with the innate immune system, microbiota, biochemistry and cell biology of infected cells, inflammation and aging.

Two studies show that immune cells infected with SARSCoV2 can stimulate a large inflammatory response via inflammasome activation. In mice, drugs that inhibit inflammasomes save mice from severe COVID19 pathology.

A COVID19 outbreak is ravaging a hospital for older adults in Shanghai, China. Workers said that deaths are increasing & resources are dwindling.