Massachusetts General Hospital | MassGeneral Hospital for Children

3D renderings of Pseudomonas biofilms created using Volocity image processing software (photos by Sun Ho Kim)

People with CF can be infected with the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas as early as the first weeks of infancy, and despite the availability of sophisticated antibiotic treatments, are at risk of becoming persistently infected. Conversely, critically ill individuals in intensive care units are at risk of acute Pseudomonas lung infections that can be very difficult to treat owing to marked antibiotic resistance.

Through our research, we aim to understand why current antibiotic treatment is not completely effective against Pseudomonas, and to develop more effective approaches to treatment that may minimize the development of antibiotic resistance. 

Projects in the Moskowitz Lab focus on:

• Improving the predictive value of antibiotic susceptibility testing with respect to treatment of CF airway infection
• Defining clinically relevant antibiotic resistance mechanisms of P. aeruginosa
• Modeling interactions between P. aeruginosa biofilms and antibiotics in vitro
• Understanding how interactions between P. aeruginosa and host cells contribute to antibiotic resistance and thus determine the outcome of infection (resolution versus acute progression versus chronic persistence)

For more information about the lab, please visit our website