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Profile

Philip Rather PhD

  • Department of Microbiology and Immunology
    Professor
  • Emory University School of Medicine
    Microbiology and Immunology
    VAMC
Head shot of Philip Rather

Overview

Research in my laboratory focuses on the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, a critical threat to hospitalized patients and injured military personnel. We have identified a genetic switch that allows A. baumannii to interconvert between virulent and avirulent states. By manipulating this switch, a strain has been created that is locked in the avirulent state. Our studies have demonstrated that this locked strain serves as a highly effective live attenuated vaccine and confers 100% protection in mouse models of infection. In addition, high-throughput screening is being used to identify small molecules that convert A. baumannii from the virulent to the avirulent state. The overall goal of our work is to develop both a vaccine and novel antimicrobials to target this highly antibiotic resistant pathogen.

In a second are of research, we are studying the effects of beta-lactamase overexpression on the physiology of A. baumannii. Our work has demonstrated that beta-lactamase overexpression can create new cellular vulnerabilities in A. baumannii, and genes that have a synthetic lethal phenotype in overexpressing strains have been identified. These gene products represent a new class of bacterial targets for the development of novel antimicrobials that selectively target antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Academic Appointment

  • Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University

Education

Degrees

  • PhD from Emory University
  • BS from Illinois State University

Research

Publications

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