Dr. Nathan Weyand
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a sexually transmitted bacterial pathogen, is a global threat to human health because of increased antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Nathan Weyand, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, and his lab are working to understand how N. gonorrhoeae persists in the human body and protects itself from immune defenses.
A better understanding of this bacterium’s survival strategies could contribute to the development of therapies that make it more susceptible to the body’s defenses. The lab also conducts comparative studies of N. gonorrhoeae with related species to learn more about virulence and host-bacteria interactions.
Weyand received a new grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases titled “Evasion of Serum Killing by Neisseria gonorrhoeae Using Membrane-Associated Complement Inhibitors.” The grant, totaling $453,000 over three years, will support both the research described above and the training of undergraduate and graduate students in Biological Sciences.
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