Matt Mulvey, Ph.D.

Matt Mulvey, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

 
Scholarly Emphasis: Bacterial Pathogenesis

My lab is focused on understanding the survival and virulence strategies employed by a group of important bacterial pathogens known collectively as Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli, or ExPEC. These bacteria can persist within the human gut, often without apparent pathological consequence, but have the capacity to disseminate and cause disease in other host niches, including the blood, central nervous system, and urinary tract. Subsets of ExPEC known as Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) are the primary cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs), which currently rank among the most common of infectious diseases worldwide. These bacteria act as opportunistic invasive pathogens capable of entering host epithelial cells within the urinary tract where they can either rapidly multiply or, alternatively, persist in a more quiescent state for days to many weeks. We, and others, hypothesize that intracellular reservoirs of UPEC may contribute to the often chronic and recurrent nature of UTIs. ExPEC strains related to UPEC can have a broad host range and display a remarkable ability to adapt to widely varying environmental conditions, often facing nutrient limitations, antibiotics, and aggressive host defense mechanisms. Using genetics, microscopy, biochemistry, global gene expression analysis and molecular biology techniques coupled with cell culture, mouse, and zebrafish infection model systems, we are working to delineate both bacterial and host factors that control the ability of ExPEC to colonize and persist within the host. Specific goals of this research include:

1. Defining the mechanisms by which ExPEC invades, traffics, multiplies, and persists within host cells and tissues.

2. Understanding how small regulatory RNAs and other bacterial factors modulate ExPEC virulence gene expression and, ultimately, bacterial resistance to the multitude of stresses encountered during the course of an infection.

3. Determining how ExPEC-associated toxins and other virulence factors modulate and hijack host signaling events, including host cell death, survival, and inflammatory pathways.

Selected Publications

  • Blango MG and Mulvey MA (2010). Persistence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli in the face of multiple antibiotics. Antimicrobiol. Agents Chemother. 54(5):1855-63.
  • Wiles TJ, Bower JM, Redd MJ, Mulvey MA (2009). Use of zebrafish to probe the divergent virulence potentials and toxin requirements of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. PLoS Pathogens, 5(12):e1000697.
  • Bower JM, Gordon-Ragaas, HB, Mulvey MA (2009). Conditioning of uropathogenic Escherichia coli for enhanced colonization of the host. Infect. Immun. 77(5): 2104-2112.
  • Dhakal BK and Mulvey MA (2009). Uropathogenic Escherichia coli invade host cells via an HDAC6-modulated microtubule-dependent pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 284(1): 446-454.
  • Eto ES, Gordon HB, Dhakal DK, Jones TA, and Mulvey MA (2008). Clathrin, AP-2, and the NPXY-binding subset of alternate endocytic adaptors facilitate FimH-mediated bacterial invasion of host cells. Cell. Microbiol. 10(12): 2553-2567.
  • Wiles TJ, Kulesus RR, Mulvey MA (2008). Origins and virulence mechanisms of uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Exp. Mol. Path. 85:11-19.
  • Kulesus RR, Diaz-Perez K, Slechta ES, Eto DS, and Mulvey MA (2008). Impact of the RNA chaperone Hfq on the fitness and virulence potential of uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Infect. Immun. 76(7):3019-3026.
  • Wiles TJ, Dhakal BK, Eto DS, and Mulvey MA (2008). Inactivation of host Akt/protein kinase B signaling by bacterial pore-forming toxins. Mol. Biol. Cell, 19(4):1427-1438.
  • Eto DS, Jones TA, Sunbdsbak JL and Mulvey MA (2007). Integrin-mediated invasion of host cells by type 1-piliated uropathogenic Escherichia coli. PLoS Pathogens, 3(7):e100.
  • Eto DS, Sundsbak JL, Mulvey MA (2006). Actin-gated intracellular growth and resurgence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Cell. Microbiol. 8:704-717.
  • All Publications: Click Here

Professional Education

  • Baccalaureate Degree: B.S., 1990, University of Texas at Austin, Biological Sciences (Molecular Biology).
  • Advanced Degree: Ph.D., December, 1995, University of Texas at Austin, Biological Sciences (Virology).
  • Postdoctoral Fellowships:12/95 – 09/1996: Biomedical Centre, Uppsala, Sweden.
  • 09/96 – 01/2001: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Department of Molecular Microbiology.