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Jun
(Jay) Zhu
Assistant
Professor, Dept of Microbiology
Microbiology,
Virology and Parasitology Program
Address
201B Johnson Pavilion (Office)
202C Johnson Pavilion (Lab)
3610 Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076
Office tel.: 215-573-4104
Lab tel.: 215-573-4105
Fax: 215-898-9557
E-mail: junzhu@mail.med.upenn.edu
Link(s)
Dr.
Zhu's Microbiology faculty page
Education
Wuhan University, China: BS (Microbiology), 1991.
Cornell University: PhD (Microbiology), 1999.
Harvard Medical School: Postdoc (Bacterial pathogenesis),
2004.
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Research
Interests
- Quorum Sensing, Bacterial pathogenesis, Biofilms,
Vibrio cholerae.
Key words: Genomics, Bacterial pathogenesis,
Biofilms, Genetics, host-pathogen interaction, cell-cell signaling.
Search PubMed for articles
Description
of Research
My laboratory is interested in studying quorum
sensing in related to bacterial pathogenesis in Vibrio
cholerae, which causes a severe watery diarrhea cholera
disease, and other intestinal human pathogens. V. cholerae
colonizes the small intestine and produces a range of virulence
factors, including cholera toxin. Cholera is still endemic
in many parts of developing countries, where seasonal outbreaks
occur widely. V. cholerae is also a potential bioterrorism
agent, listed in Category B of biological threats by CDC.
Quorum-sensing refers the ability of a microorganism to perceive
and respond to microbial population density, usually relying
on the production and subsequent response to diffusible signal
molecules. More recently, the role of quorum sensing in virulence
regulation has been noted in several clinically important
bacterial pathogens, including V. cholerae, and quorum
sensing pathways may therefore be a useful target for novel
antimicrobial therapies.
Recent in vitro studies reveal that
quorum sensing systems control V. cholerae virulence
gene expression and biofilm formation. Currently we are applying
genetic, genomic and proteomic tools to study the in vivo
role that quorum sensing plays during V. cholerae infection
to demonstrate the significance of the relationships among
quorum sensing, pathogenesis and biofilm development in V.
cholerae.
Recent
Publications
Joelsson, A., B. Kan, and J. Zhu. 2007. Quorum sensing enhances stress response in Vibrio cholerae. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.73:3742-3746.
Liu, Z., Stirling, F. and J. Zhu. 2007. Temporal quorum sensing induction regulates Vibrio cholerae biofilm architectures. Infect. Immunity. 75: 122-126.
Hsiao, A., Z. Liu, A. Joelsson, and J. Zhu. 2006. Vibrio cholerae virulence regulator-coordinated evasion of host immunity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 103:14542-14547.
Liu, Z., A. Hsiao, A. Joelsson, and J. Zhu. 2006. A transcriptional regulator VqmA increases the expression of the quorum sensing activator HapR in Vibrio cholerae. J. Bacteriol. 188:2146-2153.
Joelsson, A., Z. Liu, and J. Zhu. 2006. Genetic and phenotypic diversity of quorum sensing systems in clinical and environmental isolates of Vibrio cholerae. Infect. Immunity 74:1141-1147.
Lab
Rotation
Projects
- Functional analysis of quorum-regulated
genes in V. cholerae
- Novel transposon mutagenesis to screen inter-species
intestinal human pathogen signals
- Screen for genes required for in vivo biofilm
formation
- Lab
personnel:
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Amy Tsou - MD/PhD student
Ansel Hsiao - PhD student
Jennifer Giel - Postdoc
Zane Liu - Postdoc
Nina Salinger - Research Associate
Rebecca Feldman - Undergraduate student
last updated 8/2007
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