Jesus Bazan Villicana

Program: Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Current advisor: Scott J. Hultgren, PhD

Undergraduate university: Indiana University-Bloomington, 2018

Enrollment year: 2018

Research summary
Regulation of type 1 pili formation in uropathogenic Escherichia coli

My project in the Hultgren lab is understanding the factors and regulatory systems in place which control type 1 pilus formation in Escherichia coli. Type 1 pili are necessary for uropathogenic E. coli to bind to the urothelium in the urinary tract and establish an initial infection. The fim operon contains many of the necessary type 1 pili components and is under regulation by an invertible promoter region known as fimS. My project aims to understand what proteins and regulatory systems are in place that regulate phase variation in this system

Graduate publications
Tamadonfar KO, Di Venanzio G, Pinkner JS, Dodson KW, Kalas V, Zimmerman MI, Bazan Villicana J, Bowman GR, Feldman MF, Hultgren SJ. 2023 Structure-function correlates of fibrinogen binding by Acinetobacter adhesins critical in catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 120(4):e2212694120. PMCID: PMC9942807