Andrea Killian Wegrzynowicz, an IPiB graduate student, will be defending her Ph.D. research on April 18, 2024. Her research in the Henzler-Wildman Lab investigated small multidrug resistance (SMR) proteins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Francisella tularensis — all pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant bacteria — to determine whether the proteins could be used to induce susceptibility to antibiotics.
Past research in the Henzler-Wildman Lab used E. coli to explore the ways SMR proteins, a type of transport protein, are able to perform multiple functions. Cells use the transporters to remove toxic compounds (including antibiotics) from the cell. Certain compounds can also induce the transporters to leak protons across the cell membrane. This disrupts the proton gradient required for the proteins to effectively remove unwanted compounds from the cell, resulting in a cell more susceptible to antibiotic treatment.
Wegrzynowicz was interested in applying this knowledge to medically-relevant bacteria. “Lab strain E. coli is an important model organism,” says Wegrzynowicz, “but it’s not an organism that’s keeping physicians up at night. I wanted my research to have a more tangible connection to a clinical impact. When I joined the lab, we were curious about understanding the role of these transporters in clinically relevant pathogens.”
Wegrzynowicz found indications that SMR proteins found in the pathogenic bacteria confer both antibiotic resistance and antibiotic susceptibility when tested in E. coli, and potentially in their native organisms. She also used multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to investigate how different compounds interact with an SMR protein from P. aeruginosa on an amino acid level. This work is ongoing and has the potential to provide important information to researchers, especially those developing tools to confer antibiotic susceptibility. Her research has been published Molecular Biology.
While Wegrzynowicz was drawn to the Henzler-Wildman Lab because of the project’s clinical implications, just as important to her were the dynamics in the lab and with her advisor. “I really wanted a collaborative environment and an advisor I worked well with. Katie is just one of the best teachers and communicators I’ve encountered,” says Wegrzynowicz of Henzler-Wildman. “She’s created a very collegial and supportive environment in the lab. And she’s very good at mentoring us when our projects aren’t going as planned.”
After graduating, Wegrzynowicz will join the UW–Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as a postdoctoral researcher, where she will study the immune phenotype of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with Dr. Aleks Stanic-Kostic and Dr. Laura Cooney. “What I most care about is helping people understand the molecular factors that contribute to reasons people aren’t getting pregnant when they want to be,” says Wegrzynowicz, who interned with the fertility tracking company, Proov, during her time as a Biotechnology Training Program trainee.
To learn more about Wegrzynowicz’s research, attend her Ph.D. defense, “Inducing Susceptibility with a Small Multidrug Resistance Transporter from Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” on Thursday, April 18 at 11:00 a.m. CT in Room 175 of Hector F. DeLuca Biochemistry Laboratories Building.