Connie Yang

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: Drew Schwartz, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: McGill University, 2021

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
Genetics and genomics of infections related to the usage of injection drugs

The syndemic of opioids, stimulants and other substances is a growing public health crisis that is compounded by the emerging epidemic of bacterial infectious diseases. People who use drugs (PWUD) not only represents an underserved population, but also a clinically significant reservoir for communicable diseases due to frequent encounters with the healthcare system. A greater understanding of the nature of illicit substances available to the injection drug use (IDU) community, as well as the mechanisms through which bacterial infections can spread among PWUD is needed to develop targeted and more efficacious clinical guidelines, social infrastructure, and harm reduction strategies for reducing IDU associated morbidity and mortality.
In my thesis, I will survey the local illicit drug supply in St. Louis, with a focus on xylazine, an alpha 2 adrenergic receptor agonist which is increasingly being found in the US illegal drug supply and linked to overdose deaths, skin ulcerations, and infections. Additionally, I will characterize the aetiology and spread of invasive bacterial infections and reinfections in PWUD, with a focus on Staphylococcus aureus, which is the most prevalent causative pathogen of invasive bacterial infections in PWUD.

Graduate publications