Genomic Analysis of Complex Microbial Communities in Wounds

Abstract

Culture-based and molecular-based studies highlight the diversity of bacterial pathogens in non-healing wounds, but these diverse bacterial communities have yet to be fully characterized. An enhanced understanding of the complex wound microbial communities is crucial to the development of next-generation wound diagnostics and therapeutics. The purpose of this project is to develop and apply cutting-edge molecular technologies to characterize wound microbiota in a non-biased, culture-independent fashion. To date we have: 1) Developed and applied a rapid, qPCR-based method for assessing bacterial load in wounds; 2) Developed and applied a novel, culture-independent pyrosequencing approach to characterize bacterial communities in wounds; 3) Pioneered an ecological-based statistical approach for analyzing microbial communities in a clinical context; 4) Revealed association between antibiotic therapy and increased Pseudomonas colonization in chronic wounds; and 5) Revealed association between diabetes and Streptococcus colonization in chronic wounds. We expect that our advances will facilitate a deeper understanding of the role of microbial colonization in wound healing and lead to more evidence-based wound therapies in the future.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA585789

Entities

People

  • Lance B. Price

Organizations

  • Translational Genomics Research Institute

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacteria
  • Bacterial Infections
  • Bacteriology
  • Environment
  • Foot Diseases
  • Gut Microbiome
  • Microbiology
  • Microbiomes
  • Microorganisms
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Therapy
  • Thermal Cyclers
  • United States
  • Wound Healing
  • Wound Infections

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Microbial Pathology
  • Molecular Genetics
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology