The problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is major, and one that is receiving a great deal of attention from researchers around the world. The Research blog (read the full article) of the Office of the Vice President for Research recently published an article about University faculty who are involved in this research. Some of these faculty members are MSI Principal Investigators:
Professor Linda Kinkel (Plant Pathology) uses next-generation sequencing to study microbes associated with native prairie plants and crop plants. She and her group use MSI resources and the assistance of user support staff to process large datasets of microbial DNA sequences.
Associate Professor Tim Johnson (Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences) analyze microbial genomic data through transcriptomic and metagenomic studies to better understand the role of gut and skin microbial communities in animal health. He and his group use the Galaxy suite and other software available through MSI.
Dr. Michael Sadowsky (Director, BioTechnology Institute, and Soil, Water, and Climate) and his colleague Alexander Khoruts are developing a novel treatment for Clostridium difficile infections. These infections can be caused by antibiotic use. These researchers use MSI resources to process very large datasets of sequence data. Besides this project, Dr. Sadowsky uses MSI for the Minnesota Mississippi Metagenome Project, which studies the microbiota of the Mississippi River.