Title
Assistant Professor
Education
BS – Externado Nacional Camilo Torres, Colombia, 1979
MD – National University of Colombia, School of Medicine; 1987
PhD – University of Maryland School of Medicine; 1993
Postgraduate Education
Infection Biology Postdoc -- Max-Planck Institute
Residency – Sinai Hospital Baltimore
Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship – University of Washington
Clinical Interests
Primary interest in the evaluation and management of pediatric patients affected by overwhelming or uncommon infectious diseases. Special interest in the diagnosis, control, and prevention of bacterial diarrheal diseases and tropical infectious diseases.
Research Interests
ETEC bacterial pathogenesis and vaccine development. My laboratory is interested in studying novel mechanisms of pathogenesis of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and developing vaccine candidates that may be used in the future for ETEC diarrhea prevention. ETEC is an important cause of diarrhea in travelers, children in the developing world, and a re-emergent diarrheal pathogen in the US. Virulence factors associated with diarrheal disease include fimbrial and non-fimbrial colonization factors as well as heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxins. At the present time we are studying a plasmid-encoded type IV pilus, designated longus, which has been identified in ETEC isolates from many countries. The major longus structural subunit (lngA) shares homology to major subunits of known colonization factors such as the toxin-co-regulated pilus of V. cholerae, CFA/III of ETEC, and the bundle-forming pilus of Enteropathogenic E. coli. Our research involves the identification and characterization of genes involved in the biosynthesis of longus. We are looking at the structural gene variation among many international isolates to determine if areas of conservation within the protein sequence may be used for vaccine development.
Molecular diagnostics for E. coli diarrheal disease. In addition to the bacterial pathogenesis project, my laboratory also works in a molecular epidemiology project with the goal of developing and implementing affordable and rapid diagnostic techniques for the identification of diarrheogenic bacterial pathogens from stool samples of children with diarrhea. This work is carried out in collaboration with international scientists and clinicians in Mexico and Colombia. The molecular-based techniques may facilitate diagnosis and management, and improve epidemiological surveillance in developing countries where the nature of the bacterial diarrheal diseases in children is unknown.
Recent Publications
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