Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Molecular Mechanisms of Host-Pathogen Interactions

Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Molecular Mechanisms of Host-Pathogen Interactions provides a comprehensive overview of our existing knowledge on Streptococcus pneumoniae antibiotic resistance, dissemination, and pathogenesis, including immunology. It presents a state-of-the-art overview of the implications of existing data, along with the areas of research that are important for future insights into the molecular mechanisms of pneumococcal infections and how to combat these infections. Users will find a timely update on the topic, as the dramatic increase in antibiotic resistance pneumoniae cases and limitations of the currently available pneumoniae vaccines are creating new concerns on these gram-positive bacteria that are endowed with a high virulence potential, and are the most common etiologic agent of respiratory and life-threatening invasive diseases.

Jeremy Brown is a clinician scientist who is Professor of Respiratory Infection at University College London. He has 16 years experience in investigating the pathogenesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections, particularly the development of pneumonia. His main research interests are innate and adaptive immune responses to S. pneumoniae, new vaccine development, the role of ABC transporters during infection, and characterising the phenotypic consequences of genetic differences between S. pneumoniae strains. As well as leading his research group he works as a respiratory physician caring for patients with lung infections at University College London Hospitals. He is an editorial board member for Infection and Immunity, Pneumonia and the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Sven Hammerschmidt is Professor and Head of the Department of Genetics of Microorganisms at the University of Greifswald in Germany. He is a microbiologist and molecular biologist, graduated 1996 from Medical Microbiology at the Medical School Hannover and University of Hannover in Germany followed by a postdoc time from 1996 to 2003 at the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany. This time was associated with two short-term stays as a visiting scientist at the Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. In 2003 he was appointed as head of a young investigator group at the Center for Infection Research, University of Würzburg, Germany and In 2007 Sven Hammerschmidt was appointed as an associate professor for Cellular Microbiology at the Max von Pettenkofer-Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, University of Munich, Germany. In 2008 he moved to the University of Greifswald and became full-professor for General and Molecular Genetics. In 1998 he received the Robert Koch prize for post-docs and in 2008 the Becton Dickenson Research Award of the German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). His research interests are focused on deciphering the molecular and cellular mechanisms of Gram-positive human pathogens with special emphasis in Streptococcus pneumoniae. His studies identified several novel adhesive molecules, pneumococci-induced host signalling pathways, innate immune evasion mechanisms, and explored the link between physiology and pneumococcal virulence. He serves as associate editor of Molecular Oral Microbiology (since 2010), and is member of the editorial board of Microbes and Infection (since 2009), Frontiers in Immunology (since 2011), and the ASM journal Infection and Immunity (since 2012). He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer or consultant for several journals and government agencies.

Dr. Orihuela is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He earned his B.S. from Baylor University in 1996, Ph.D. in 2001 from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. This was followed by postdoctoral training in Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through 2005. Dr. Orihuela's primary research involves the host-pathogen interactions that lead to the development of invasive pneumococcal disease. His work has shown that Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence gene expression is anatomical-site specific, that the pneumococcus and other respiratory tract pathogens use a common portal to cross the blood brain barrier during meningitis, that systemic low-grade inflammation enhances susceptibility to pneumonia, and that during colonization pneumococci within the nasopharynx are within immunoquiescent biofilms. Most recently, Dr. Orihuela’s research is focused on the cardiotoxic events that occur during invasive pneumococcal disease. Dr. Orihuela is a member of numerous review committees including those for the National Institute of Health. He is Associate Editor of the journal PLoS Pathogens and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for multiple journals. At San Antonio, Dr. Orihuela was the recipient of a Presidential Distinguished Research Scholar Award in 2011.