Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics

Staphylococcus aureus; infectious disease; comparative microbial genomics; human microbiome; bioinformatics; DNA sequencing (Next generation sequencing); microarray (spotted and Affymetrix); metagenomics; oral streptococci.

Dr. Gill's overall research interest is in human microbial flora and its impact on health and disease. His laboratory is focused on three complementary areas of research: 1) microbial pathogenesis and evolution of virulence in the Staphylococci, 2) metagenomics and the role of the human microbiome in human health and disease and 3) the association of oral microbial flora with development of oral cancer.

Within the Staphylococci genus, there are three species associated with significant human disease: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and the most recent emerging pathogen, Staphylococcus lugdunensis. S. aureus is an aggressive pathogen capable of causing diseases ranging in severity from superficial skin infections to life-threatening infections such as meningitis and endocarditis. In the past, the majority of S. aureus infections were nosocomial infections occurring within a hospital environment. These nosocomial infections are responsible for significant mortality in the US, causing over 100,000 deaths per year and costing billions of health care dollars. The recent emergence of community acquired methicillin resistant isolates of S. aureus (CA-MRSA) has led to a strong sense of urgency to devise therapeutics to control this significant pathogen. It is likely that increases in virulence occur as a result of evolution of key genes and acquisition of genes encoding virulence factors through horizontal gene transfer between these Staphylococcal species. Dr. Gill's laboratory is using high-throughput genomics approaches (including DNA microarrays and high-throughput genome sequencing and bioinformatics) along with classic genetics and animal models to identify key virulence genes and examine acquisition of clusters of genes or islands responsible for increased virulence. This work is a collaborative effort between investigators at Duke University, University at Buffalo and the Buffalo Veterans Administration Hospital (Dr. Alan Lesse).

The human body is home to trillions of bacteria that have evolved with the human species to provide essential physiologic and metabolic functions. This collection of bacteria, or the microbiome, is being studied using a new high-throughput sequencing approach commonly referred to as metagenomics. This approach allows scientists to identify virtually all organisms within a specific human tissue and then use bioinformatics tools to assign functions to the genes of each organism. Novel approaches using high-throughput proteomics are being developed to identify protein-protein interactions within the microbiome and the human host. Dr. Gill was lead author on the first published study using metagenomic approaches to study the human gut microbiome and is continuing to pursue his study of the human microbiome in several areas, but primarily to study possible association of the oral microbiome with development of oral cancer. This work is being done in collaboration between Dr. Gill and clinicians and scientists in the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Drs. Maureen Sullivan, Mary Reid and Nestor Rigual).

• 454-FLX Next Generation DNA Sequencer
• Affymetrix Expression/Genotyping platform
• Spotted Microarrays

Human bacterial flora, Staphylococci, Streptococci.

Bacterial infectious disease

DNA sequencing, microarray analysis, bacterial genetics.

Human keratinocyte carcinoma cells (KB)

Bacterial infectious disease

http://www.sdm.buffalo.edu/oralbiology/home.asp?f=srgill