The Coombes lab is excited to share our latest research on how Crohn's disease-associated E. coli evolve in the host over time, published this month in Cell Host & Microbe. Led by postdoc Dr. Wael Elhenawy and PhD student Caressa Tsai, we showed that adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) evolve diverse traits during months of host colonization, including hypermotility and the ability to better consume nutrients in the gut. We also validated these traits in E. coli from Crohn's patients. Amazing work by the team here.
New research was published today from a great collaboration between the Coombes and Brown labs in Nature Communications, identifying a chemical scaffold that selectively kills intracellular Salmonella. In chasing this lead, some cool new intracellular biology was uncovered too, showing that the Salmonella outer membrane is compromised in the macrophage, making the bacteria sensitive to otherwise ineffective small molecules. Could be great leads here for other intracellular Gram-negative bacteria too. Outstanding effort by PhD student Caressa Tsai and postdoc Mike Ellis, who were co-first authors. Great example of the power of collaboration across different lab and disciplines, which also req
