Michele Somes Swanson | |
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![]() Michele Swanson at ASM Microbe 2019 | |
Alma mater | Harvard University Yale University Columbia University |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Michigan |
Thesis | Analysis of SPT4, SPT5, and SPT6 interactions and effects on transcription in yeast (1991) |
Michele S. Swanson is an American biologist who is a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan. She has investigated the water-borne pathogen Legionella pneumophila . Swanson is interested in the metabolic cues that underpin the virulence of L. pneumophila and how it is transmitted to humans. She served as president of the American Society for Microbiology in 2018.
Swanson grew up in Michigan, one of six children in her family. [1] Her father was the first member of his family to attend university. [1] Swanson spent her summer holidays playing sports at Michigan summer camps, where she played field hockey and softball. Swanson eventually earned her bachelor's degree at Yale University, where she worked as a counsellor for freshmen at Davenport College. [1] Swanson was inspired by John Trinkaus to pursue a career in experimental biology. After graduating from Yale, Swanson joined Rockefeller University as a laboratory technician. [1] She moved to Columbia University for her graduate studies, where she earned a master's degree in genetics under the supervision of Marian Carlson. Swanson joined the laboratory of Fred Winston at Harvard University where she completed her doctoral research on the interactions of various transcription factors with yeast. [2] She was a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts Medical Center,[ citation needed ] where she first became interested in Legionella pneumophila .
In 1996, Swanson joined the faculty at the University of Michigan. [1] Swanson has studied how Legionella pneumophila remains virulent in different environments. She identified that the pathogen alternates between different cell types, one which is highly replicative and another which is highly transmissible that is primed to invade naïve hosts. After extended periods of starvation, L. pneumophila forms a highly infectious form. Swanson showed that L. pneumophila achieves these distinct cell types by coupling cellular differentiation to the metabolic state. [ citation needed ]
L. pneumophila can cause sporadic outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease. This was responsible for the Flint water crisis that started in 2014. Swanson has studied the mechanisms that permit L. pneumophila to persist in water, looking to create a microbiology based system to assess the safety of public water systems. [3]
Swanson serves as the director of postgraduate studies and President's Advisory Commission on Women's Issues at the University of Michigan. [1] She was elected president of the American Society for Microbiology in 2018 [4] and hosts the ASM podcast This Week in Microbiology. [5] She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019. [6]
Legionella is a genus of pathogenic gram-negative bacteria that includes the species L. pneumophila, causing legionellosis including a pneumonia-type illness called Legionnaires' disease and a mild flu-like illness called Pontiac fever.
Legionella pneumophila is a thin, aerobic, pleomorphic, flagellated, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus Legionella. L. pneumophila is the primary human pathogenic bacterium in this group and is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, also known as legionellosis.
A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens. Different types of media are used for growing different types of cells.
Stanley "Stan" Falkow was an American microbiologist and a professor of microbiology at Georgetown University, University of Washington, and Stanford University School of Medicine. Falkow is known as the father of the field of molecular microbial pathogenesis. He formulated molecular Koch's postulates, which have guided the study of the microbial determinants of infectious diseases since the late 1980s. Falkow spent over 50 years uncovering molecular mechanisms of how bacteria cause disease and how to disarm them. Falkow also was one of the first scientists to investigate antimicrobial resistance, and presented his research extensively to scientific, government, and lay audiences explaining the spread of resistance from one organism to another, now known as horizontal gene transfer, and the implications of this phenomenon on our ability to combat infections in the future.
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The gene EEA1 encodes for the 1400 amino acid protein, Early Endosome Antigen 1.
Lida Holmes Mattman Ph.D. (1912–2008) was an immunologist. She graduated with a M.S. in Virology from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Yale University. Mattman taught in the fields of immunology, microbiology, bacteriology, virology and pathology for over 30 years. She worked at various schools and institutions including Harvard University, Howard Hughes Institute, Oakland University and Wayne State University. She was a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit where she was engaged in research and lecturing. She has served as President of the Michigan Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, as Chairman of the Medical Division of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, and held various offices in the local chapter of Sigma Xi.
The 1976 Legionnaires disease outbreak, occurring in the late summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States was the first occasion in which a cluster of a particular type of pneumonia cases were determined to be caused by the Legionella pneumophila bacteria.
Legionella cherrii is an aerobic, flagellated, Gram-negative bacterium from the genus Legionella. It was isolated from a heated water sample in Minnesota. L. cherrii is similar to another Legionella species, L. pneumophila, and is believed to cause major respiratory problems.
Legionella jordanis is a Gram-negative bacterium from the genus Legionella which was isolated from the Jordan River in Bloomington, Indiana and from the sewage in DeKalb County, Georgia. L. jordanis is a rare human pathogen and can cause respiratory tract infections.
Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of Legionella bacteria, quite often Legionella pneumophila. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pains, and headaches. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. This often begins 2–10 days after exposure.
Barbara Hotham Iglewski is an American microbiologist. She is director of international programs at the University of Rochester Medical Center where she is a professor of microbiology and immunology.
Arturo Casadevall is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the Alfred and Jill Sommer Professor and Chair of the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease research, with a focus on fungal and bacterial pathogenesis and basic immunology of antibody structure-function. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.
Legionella clemsonensis was isolated in 2006, but was described in 2016 by Clemson University researchers. It is a Gram-negative bacterium.
Ralph R. Isberg is a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine known for his contributions to understanding microbial pathogenesis. He is a member of the American National Academy of Sciences and was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 27 years. A microbiologist, Isberg has published over 185 peer-reviewed articles and is or has been an editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLoS Pathogens, and Journal of Experimental Medicine, among others.
Kathryn J. Moore is a Canadian-born American cell biologist who is the Jean and David Blechman Professor of Cardiology and the founding director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Moore's research considers the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, with a focus on the identification of novel therapeutic targets. She was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
Vanessa Sperandio is a professor at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in both the departments of microbiology and biochemistry. She will join the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health as the chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in spring 2022.
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Mary X. D. O’Riordan is an American molecular biologist who is the Frederick C. Neidhardt Collegiate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. She also serves as Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Michigan Medicine.
Shabaana A. Khader is an Indian-American microbiologist who is the Bernard and Betty Roizman Professor of Microbiology at the University of Chicago. She is also the Chair of the Department of Microbiology. In an effort to design new vaccines and therapeutic strategies, Khader studies host-pathogen interactions in infectious disease.