Maria Soledad Ramirez Email and Phone Number

My research focuses on mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, their dissemination and evolution, and their impact on the morbidity and mortality of bacterial infections. The increase in infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a serious threat to human health, and the problem has attracted the attention of diverse government and agencies that are trying to establish strategies to increase research and design of new therapies. In the past few years, we have explored various aspects of a major nosocomial pathogen -Acinetobacter baumannii- that has a particular ability to acquire antimicrobial resistance traits and survive in the hospital environment. However, recognizing the importance of interactions among multiple pathogens I expanded the scope of my research to include different aspects of processes that lead to disease and resistance to treatment in other bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Burkholderia cepacia complex. These processes result in more efficient biofilm formation, unknown mechanisms of resistance to antimicrobial agents, and expression of virulence factors.