PRATIK SHAH

Unorthodox bacterial two-component regulatory systems and signals implicated in diarrheal diseases

Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old. Each year diarrhea kills around 525, 000 children under five. Globally, there are nearly 1.7 billion cases of childhood diarrheal disease every year (). I studied the mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens such as Vibrio cholerae activate their toxins during diarrheal infections. I identified several two-component regulatory systems (TCS), which potentially sense and respond to oxygen, osmolarity, or dietary metabolites, and whose deletion led to a significant reduction in cholera toxin production. These established an important link between the reduced availability of oxygen and unique metabolites in the small intestines and the disease outcome.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

1. Regulation of Vibrio cholerae virulence in response to novel host signal. 2012. [Poster] [Conference Proceedings]

   Pratik Shah and Hung D

   Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity

2. Regulation of Vibrio cholerae virulence gene expression and pathogenesis in microaerophilic growth conditions. 2010. [Abstract] [Invited Oral] [Conference Proceedings]

   Pratik Shah, Oh D, Hung D

   Proceedings of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phage Meeting