Ana L. Flores-Mireles works in the fields of microbial pathogenesis and development of new therapeutics. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the papers "Bacterial cell wall biogenesis is mediated by SEDS and PBP polymerase families functioning semi-autonomously" by H. Cho et al. (Nat Microbiol 1:16172, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.172) and "A comprehensive, CRISPR-based functional analysis of essential genes in bacteria" by J. M. Peters et al. (Cell 165:1493-1506, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.003) made an impact on her approach to dissecting essential processes to understand microbial pathogenesis in catheter-associated urinary tract infections and generate an effective treatment with reduced likelihood of developing resistance.
Keywords: CRISPR; antibiotics; cell wall; essential genes; multidrug resistance; multidrug resistant; pathogen; pathogens; treatments.
Copyright © 2019 Flores-Mireles.