Theresa Ho, B. S., Biology,
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
M.S., Ph.D. Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Postdoctoral Fellow
E-mail: theresa.ho@tufts.edu

I am working on dissecting the pathogenesis of EHEC using the recently developed infant rabbit model. Major contributors to EHEC (enterohemorrhagic E. coli) pathogenesis are the Stx toxins. These toxins are expressed when the temperate bacteriophages, which encode the toxins, are induced to enter lytic phase. I am using the animal model to assay the influence of prophage induction on EHEC infection. I am also determining the consequences of environmental factors, such as antibiotic treatment, nutrition and the presence of other microbes, as well as chromosomally encoded proteins on the prophage induction and EHEC pathogenesis. In the pursuit of these studies, I am using and developing novel bacterial genetic techniques to understand bacterial gene expression during infection.