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 an aerobic, pleomorphic, flagellated, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative bacterium. There are fourteen serotypes of L. pneumophila.L. pneumophila is a facultative intracellular parasite that infects soil amoebae and freshwater amoeboflagellates for replication. This pathogen is thus found commonly near freshwater environments and invades the unicellular life, using them to carry out metabolic functions. Due to L. pneumophila’s ability to thrive in water, it can grow in water filtration systems, leading to faucets, showers, and other fixtures and then spread through aerosolized water droplets.
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.
In cell biology, a phagosome is a vesicle formed around a particle engulfed by a phagocyte via phagocytosis. Professional phagocytes include macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells (DCs).
The 1976 Legionnaires' disease outbreak, occurring in the late summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States at an annual American Legion convention, 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. Previous outbreaks were retroactively diagnosed as being most probably caused by Legionella 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 was an American microbiologist. She was director of international programs at the University of Rochester Medical Center where she was 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.
David M. Mosser is an American researcher, academic and author. He is Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at University of Maryland and the Director of Maryland Pathogen Research Institute. Mosser's research is primarily in the field of immunology. He is most known for the discovery and characterization of macrophages with anti-inflammatory and growth-promoting activity, termed regulatory macrophages. He has written over 150 articles in scientific journals that have been cited over 25,000 times.
Denise Ellen Kirschner is an American mathematical biologist and immunologist whose research topics include granulomas, HIV, tuberculosis, and the mechanisms by which disease pathogens interact with and persist in their hosts. She is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Theoretical Biology, and former president of the Society for Mathematical Biology.
Kathryn J. Moore is a Canadian-born American biomedical scientist and cell biologist. She 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 and chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she was 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.
Carey-Ann Burnham is a clinical microbiologist, and a professor of Pathology and Immunology, Molecular Microbiology, Pediatrics and Medicine in Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
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.
