Information

Related Research Units

Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine Research
Critical Care Medicine Research

Research Overview

Dr. Schaefers’s research program is focused on understanding the pathogenesis and the evolution of Burkholderia and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) with the long-term goal of developing vaccines and novel therapies. These pathogens are a major concern and cause serious infections among immunocompromised patients and people with cystic fibrosis. One major area of focus is understanding the function and the evolution of two-component systems that are involved in the virulence in these pathogens. Two-component systems are one mechanism that bacteria use to sense their environment and regulate gene expression to respond to it. Techniques used in Dr. Schaefers’s research program span multiple fields, including microbiology, molecular biology, genomics, cellular and molecular immunology, and animal models of infection.

Research Background

Dr. Matthew Schaefers earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota. He also earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota, where his thesis project focused on understanding Staphylococcal superantigens interactions with epithelial cells and the development of novel therapeutics. He then did a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Gregory Priebe at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School investigating the role of the FixLJ system in Burkholderia. Dr. Schaefers was promoted to an Instructor at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 2017. In 2022, Dr. Schaefers was promoted to Assistant Professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Publications

  1. De novo mutations mediate phenotypic switching in an opportunistic human lung pathogen. bioRxiv. 2024 Feb 06. View Abstract
  2. Cystic Fibrosis Mice Are Highly Susceptible to Repeated Acute Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia after Intranasal Inoculation. Biomed Res Int. 2024; 2024:4769779. View Abstract
  3. Small-molecule activators of a bacterial signaling pathway inhibit virulence. bioRxiv. 2023 Dec 02. View Abstract
  4. Multicomponent Pseudomonas aeruginosa Vaccines Eliciting Th17 Cells and Functional Antibody Responses Confer Enhanced Protection against Experimental Acute Pneumonia in Mice. Infect Immun. 2022 10 20; 90(10):e0020322. View Abstract
  5. Rapid expansion and extinction of antibiotic resistance mutations during treatment of acute bacterial respiratory infections. Nat Commun. 2022 03 09; 13(1):1231. View Abstract
  6. Evolution towards Virulence in a Burkholderia Two-Component System. mBio. 2021 08 31; 12(4):e0182321. View Abstract
  7. Regulation of Virulence by Two-Component Systems in Pathogenic Burkholderia. Infect Immun. 2020 06 22; 88(7). View Abstract
  8. Progress Toward the Elusive Pseudomonas aeruginosa Vaccine. Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2018 Nov/Dec; 19(8):757-768. View Abstract
  9. PLGA-encapsulation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PopB vaccine antigen improves Th17 responses and confers protection against experimental acute pneumonia. Vaccine. 2018 11 12; 36(46):6926-6932. View Abstract
  10. A putative lateral flagella of the cystic fibrosis pathogen Burkholderia dolosa regulates swimming motility and host cytokine production. PLoS One. 2018; 13(1):e0189810. View Abstract
  11. From the Cover: Prolonged Exposure to Volatile Anesthetic Isoflurane Worsens the Outcome of Polymicrobial Abdominal Sepsis. Toxicol Sci. 2017 04 01; 156(2):402-411. View Abstract
  12. The Differential Effects of Anesthetics on Bacterial Behaviors. PLoS One. 2017; 12(1):e0170089. View Abstract
  13. An Oxygen-Sensing Two-Component System in the Burkholderia cepacia Complex Regulates Biofilm, Intracellular Invasion, and Pathogenicity. PLoS Pathog. 2017 01; 13(1):e1006116. View Abstract
  14. Epithelial proinflammatory response and curcumin-mediated protection from staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1. PLoS One. 2012; 7(3):e32813. View Abstract
  15. Comparison of Staphylococcus aureus strains for ability to cause infective endocarditis and lethal sepsis in rabbits. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2012; 2:18. View Abstract
  16. Reduction in Staphylococcus aureus growth and exotoxin production and in vaginal interleukin 8 levels due to glycerol monolaurate in tampons. Clin Infect Dis. 2009 Dec 01; 49(11):1711-7. View Abstract
  17. Glycerol monolaurate and dodecylglycerol effects on Staphylococcus aureus and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 in vitro and in vivo. PLoS One. 2009 Oct 19; 4(10):e7499. View Abstract
  18. Novel toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 amino acids required for biological activity. Biochemistry. 2008 Dec 09; 47(49):12995-3003. View Abstract

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