NIAMRRE News and Events

June NIAMRRE Member Spotlight: Creighton University

Sequence Type 131 E. coli: A Colossal One Health Issue Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) cause 80% of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) globally. Since the mid-2000s a subset of UPEC called sequence type (ST) 131 have undergone rapid pandemic spread and are linked to the increase in global rates of fluoroquinolone and expanded-spectrum cephalosporin resistance with the dissemination of the extended spectrum β-lactamase, CTX-M-15. ST131 are a major cause of UTIs that lead to serious complications in humans like pyelonephritis and urosepsis. Other than humans, ST131 have been isolated from food animals, and companion animals as well as environmental sources. Tracking of antimicrobial resistant infections in animals has been limited. However, the few studies evaluating E. coli infections in companion animals identify that although they are frequent, these infections rarely cause severe symptoms or complications. Recent phylogenetic analyses have shown that ST131 infections in companion animals represent spread from human hosts and not a primary animal infection. This presentation will introduce the topic of ST131 E. coli , what is known and what still needs to be determined regarding this pandemic clone. Presenter Dr. Nancy D. Hanson is Professor and Director of the Center for Research in Anti-Infectives and Biotechnology in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Creighton University. Her area of expertise is the study of molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative organisms. Her research explores many aspects of antibiotic resistance mechanisms including: 1) identification of the selective pressures required for the emergence of resistance, 2) regulation of gene and protein expression involved in resistant phenotypes, 3) metabolic pathways leading to antibiotic tolerance in Enterobacteriaceae, and 4) the development of molecular-based diagnostic tests that can be used by laboratories to detect resistance targets in clinical isolates. Dr. Hanson has published over 80 journal articles and holds 9 patents regarding molecular diagnostics. Dr. Hanson has received several awards and acknowledgements throughout her career including Nebraska Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation researcher of the year, appointed to the steering committee by the American Academy of Microbiology for the international colloquium on antibiotic resistance, recipient of the Distinguished Research Career Award from Creighton University School of Medicine, American Society of Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer, Keynote speaker for the Opening of the Australian Center for Antimicrobial Resistance Ecology, and Recipient of Researcher of the Year for Health Sciences for Creighton University, 2017, and Graduate Mentor of the year, 2019. She also serves as Creighton’s representative on the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education.