Research Interests

My research laboratory is primarily focused on cardiovascular disease.  However, part of that work has expanded to diagnostics for bacterial infections relevant to the cardiovascular system.   Through an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Niren Murthy at UC Berkeley and Dr. Mark Goodman in Radiology at Emory, we have helped to develop a family of PET and Fluorescent imaging agents that are highly specific for bacteria.  These agents make use of the bacteria specific maltodextrin transporter which allows selective uptake of maltodextrins by bacteria.  This technology has been applied to facilitate detection of medical device-associated bacterial infections.   We are also exploring the possible use of this same strategy for targeted delivery of antibiotics.

Publications

• View publications on PubMed