Herbert P. Schweizer
Professor, Associate Head for Graduate Education and Research

Phone: 491-3536
Fax: 491-1815
Email: Herbert.Schweizer@colostate.edu
Office: C230 Microbiology Building
Lab: Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, Foothills Campus

 

Degrees

• B.S., University of Konstanz, Germany
• Ph.D., University of Konstanz, Germany

Research Interests

Molecular Genetics and Biology of Pathogenic Bacteria; multidrug resistance

• Clinical bacterial isolates are often characterized by their resistance, either intrinsic or acquired, to established antibiotics. An ongoing challenge to microbiologists is identification of new drug targets and of mechanisms underlying drug resistance. Bacterial drug efflux pumps have traditionally been regarded as almost insurmountable challenges of antibacterial drug development. Recent research efforts, however, clearly demonstrate that an understanding of structure, function and regulation of bacterial efflux systems can actually serve as an important asset for drug discovery. Biochemical and genetic studies are being employed to study the molecular architecture, function, regulation and clinical prevalence of efflux pumps of the resistance nodulation family in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia pseudomallei. To support these studies we are actively engaged in developing new genetic tools for pathogenic bacteria, especially those of contemporary interest because of their potential use as biowarfare agents, for example B. pseudomallei.

Selected Publications

Pub Med for Schweizer HP.

• Kumar, A. K.-L. Chua and H.P. Schweizer. 2006. A method for regulated single-copy efflux pump gene expression in a surrogate Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain: identification of the BpeEF-OprC chloramphenicol and trimethoprim efflux pump of Burkholderia pseudomallei 1026b. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50:3460-3463.
• Chuanchuen, R., T. Murata, N. Gotoh and H.P. Schweizer. 2005. Substrate-dependent utilization of OprM or OpmH by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa MexJK efflux pump. Antimicrob. Agents. Chemother. 49:2133-2136.
• Chuanchuen, R., J.B. Gaynor, R.R. Karkhoff-Schweizer and H.P. Schweizer. 2005. Molecular characterization of MexL, the transcriptional repressor of the mexJK efflux operon of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:1844-1851.
• K.-H., J. Gaynor, K.G. White, C. Lopez, C.M. Bosio, R.R. Karkhoff-Schweizer and H.P. Schweizer. 2005. A Tn7-based broad-range bacterial cloning and expression system. Nature Methods 2:443-448.
• Kumar, A. and H.P. Schweizer. 2005. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: active efflux and reduced uptake. Adv. Drug Del. Rev. 57:1486-1513.
• Gillis, R.J., K.G. White, K.-H. Choi, H.P. Schweizer and B.H. Iglewski. 2005. Molecular basis of azithromycin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:3858-3867.
• Zhu, K., K.-H. Choi, H.P. Schweizer, C.O. Rock and Y.-M. Zhang. 2006. Two pathways for the formation of unsaturated fatty acids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mol. Microbiol. 60:260-273.
• Choi, K.-H. and H.P. Schweizer. 2006. mini-Tn7 insertion in bacteria with single attTn7 sites: example Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nature Protocols 1:153-161.
• Choi, K.-H., D. DeShazer and H.P. Schweizer. 2006. mini-Tn7 insertion in bacteria with multiple glmS-linked attTn7 sites: example Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344. Nature Protocols 1:162-169.
• Choi, K.-H. and H.P. Schweizer. 2006. mini-Tn7 insertion in bacteria with secondary, non-glmS-linked attTn7 sites: example Proteus mirabilis HI4320. Nature Protocols 1:170-178.