Bob Ernst Email & Phone Number

The focus of my laboratory is to understand the molecular basis by which bacteria (Gram-negative and positive) modify the lipid component of their membrane and how these alterations affect or circumvent normal host innate immune system responses. These modifications can promote resistance to host innate immune killing mechanisms by antimicrobial compounds and alter recognition by TLR4. To the end, I have extensive experience in the discovery and analysis of various structural modification of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the major component of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), the major component of the Gram-positive bacterial. In addition, we have been using a variety of infection routes (aerosol, subcutaneous, IP) to determine the role of the host innate and adaptive immune systems in the control of mutant strains with defects in enzymes required for lipid biosynthesis. We are utilizing mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and bioinformatics to identify genes required for lipid biosynthesis and their interactions with the host innate immune system, specifically components of the TLR4 complex. In addition, methods for MALDI-TLC and –IMS (imaging mass spectrometry) are currently being developed and utilized for the analysis of lipids from virus infected cells and organs of bacterial and parasite infected animals. Currently, I am training graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research faculty to utilize these techniques to identify genes required for lipid biosynthesis and their interactions with the host innate immune system and utilizing state of the art MS techniques to analyze the location and composition of lipids in tissues.Our diagnostic research led to the establishment in 2016 of Pataigin LLC, which is developing a low-cost, rapid identification platform (BACLIB) that can identify a wide range of bacteria and fungi directly from clinically relevant samples, including blood and urine. Our TLR4 signaling research led to the establishment in 2023 of TollereBio, to commercialize the BECC Technology planform for adjuvant development. The BECC platform enables quick and efficient engineering of lipid A mimetics for identification of new TLR4 adjuvants with customized immunostimulatory properties.