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Luanne Hall-Stoodley, Ph.D.
Assistant
Professor
Center
for Genomic Sciences
Allegheny-Singer Research Institute
Pittsburgh, PA
Tel: (412) 359-5016
Fax: (412) 359-6995
Email: lstoodle@wpahs.org
Education
- St. Olaf College, Northfield,
Minnesota. B.A. Philosophy and History, 1981
- Montana State University
(MSU), Bozeman, Montana. Ph.D. Microbiology and Immunology 1990-1995
- Exeter University, Exeter,
United Kingdom. Post-doctoral Fellow. Microbiology 1997-1999
- Center for Biofilm
Engineering, MSU, Bozeman, MT. Post-doctoral researcher Assistant
Research Professor, 1999-2003
Awards
- Wellcome Trust Sir Henry
Wellcome Award for Innovative and Speculative Research (Showcase Award)
- Lackman Award for Outstanding
Graduate Student in Microbiology, Microbiology Department ($1000.00)
- NSF Undergraduate Research
Award in Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman
Research interests:
My research interests are in biofilms and host pathogen
interactions. In particular, I
am interested in:
w Biofilm development by pathogenic bacteria
(non-tuberculous mycobacteria, Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, Streptococcus
pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae,
Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
w Mechanisms of bacterial
attachment/adhesion
w Clinically relevant biofilms
w Interactions of pathogens with the
host and innate immunity
w Bacterial pathogen persistence
Biofilms
Biofilms are matrix-enclosed microbial populations
adherent to biological or non-biological surfaces, which represent an
important but incompletely understood mode of growth for bacteria. Most
bacteria grow in biofilms rather than as single planktonic (free swimming)
cells. Biofilms
are dynamic, structurally complex biological systems. Biofilm development represents a
protected mode of growth that allows cells to survive in hostile environments
and disperse to colonize new niches.
These survival and propagative mechanisms have fundamental
implications in the context of both environmental microbiology, microbial
ecology and in infectious disease (Hall-Stoodley, Costerton and Stoodley.
2004. Nat. Reviews Microbiol).
Biofilm formation represents a facile microbial
survival strategy where microorganisms, including pathogens, exist in a
dynamic equilibrium where cell clusters form, mature and detach to
disseminate to new surfaces.
Biofilm development provides a degree of homeostasis and stability in
a changing environment. However,
local microenvironments within biofilms can be strikingly heterogeneous and
organisms compete for space under unreliable conditions, such as nutrient
limitation, fluid flow, desiccation, toxic chemical gradients and pH and
temperature fluxes.
Pathogenic Biofilms
Some pathogens are only known to exist in the
human host. S. pneumoniae is an important pathogen which causes
localized respiratory infections as well as life-threatening systemic
infections. Pneumococcus is an
important pathogen in otitis media (OM) in children. OM with effusion (OME) has been
hypothesized to be a biofilm infection because of its chronic clinical course
and its recalcitrance to antibiotic treatment. Recently, it has been shown that several pathogens
associated with OME (including pneumococcus) are present in biofilms on the
mucosal epithelium of the middle ear (Hall-Stoodley et al. 2006. JAMA). These
biofilms were characterized as clusters of pathogenic bacteria identified in
situ by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunostaining. I am interested in investigating
pneumococcal biofilms and how biofilm development may contribute to chronic
disease such as OME.
Some pathogens exist in the environment
outside animal hosts as autochthonous (indigenous) inhabitants of aqueous
systems, including freshwater, estuarine and marine environments and
municipal water distribution systems.
The transmission of
these pathogens occurs from the environment, although biofilm formation is
rarely considered as a mechanism of acquisition (Hall-Stoodley and
Stoodley. 2005. Trends in Microbiol).
Several mechanisms make pathogens in biofilms more likely to cause
disease than planktonic organisms.
First, an obvious mechanism by which pathogens growing in biofilms
cause disease is through the dispersal of large numbers of cells that
subsequently initiates an infection. Time-lapse microscopy in our laboratories and others
suggests biofilm organisms are indeed attached, but not permanently
attached or fixed. Dispersal is an integral part of the dynamic nature of
biofilms. Second, pathogens
within biofilms are likely to be phenotypically heterogeneous, such that a
virulent phenotype might survive within the biofilm. Third, high cell densities observed
within biofilms might regulate quorum sensing (QS) networks that also control
virulence mechanisms.
Biofilm development by mycobacteria is well
documented and relevant to their ability to persist in these oligotrophic
environments. More research
needs to be done on pathogenic mycobacterial biofilms to investigate the
multiple pathways that exist for these organisms to colonize surfaces and
cause persistent infections (Hall-Stoodley and Lappin-Scott. 1998. FEMS Microbiol. Letters; Hall-Stoodley et al. 1999. J. Appl. Microbiol).
Professional Membership and Committees:
American Society of Microbiology, Panel reviewer NSF and FDA, IRB
committee
Teaching:
Immunology, Medical and Environmental Microbiology, Pathology, Histology
Publications:
Hall-Stoodley, L. and H.M. Lappin-Scott. 1998. Biofilm formation by
the rapidly growing non-tuberculous mycobacteria species Mycobacteria
fortuitum. FEMS Microbiological Letters, 168:79-84.
Hall-Stoodley, L., J. Raynor, P. Stoodley and H.M. Lappin-Scott.
1999. Establishment of experimental biofilms using the modified Robbins
Device and flow cells. In: Methods in Biotechnology, Vol. 12: Environmental
Monitoring of Bacteria, Edwards, C. (Ed.). Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ.
Hall-Stoodley, L., C.W. Keevil and H.M. Lappin-Scott. 1999. Mycobacterium
fortuitum and Mycobacterium chelonae form biofilms under high and
low nutrient conditions. J. Appl. Microbiol. Vol. 85: 60S-69S.
Stoodley, P., Hall-Stoodley, L. and Lappin-Scott, H.M. 2000.
Detachment, surface migration and other dynamic behavior in bacterial
biofilms revealed by digital time-lapse imaging. Methods in Enzymology:
Microbial Growth in Biofilms. Ed. R.J. Doyle. 337:306-319.
Stoodley, P., Hall-Stoodley, L., Boyle, J.D., Jørgensen, F. and
Lappin-Scott, H.M. 2000. Environmental and genetic factors influencing
biofilm structure. In Community Structure and Cooperation in Biofilms. pp.
53-64. (Eds. D. Allison, P. Gilbert, H.M. Lappin-Scott and M. Wilson). SGM
Symposium Series 59. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Stoodley, P., Wilson, S., Hall-Stoodley, L., Boyle, J.D.,
Lappin-Scott, H.M. and J.W. Costerton. 2001. Growth and detachment of cell
clusters from mature mixed species biofilms. Appl. Env. Microbiol.
Vol. 67, No. 12, p. 5608-13.
Hall-Stoodley, L. and Stoodley, P. 2002. Developmental regulation
of microbial biofilms. Curr. Opin. Biotech. 13:228-233.
Dunsmore, B.C., Jacobsen, A., Hall-Stoodley, L., Bass, C.J.,
Lappin-Scott, H.M. and Stoodley, P. 2002. The influence of fluid shear on the
structure and material properties of sulphate-reducing bacterial biofilms. J.
Industrial Microbiol. Biotech. 29(6):347-353.
Fux, C.A., Stoodley, P. Hall-Stoodley, L., Costerton, W.J. 2003.
Bacterial biofilms - a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Expert Review
of Anti-Infective Therapy. 1(4): 667-683.
Hall-Stoodley, L., Costerton, J.W., and Stoodley, P. 2004.
Bacterial biofilms: from the natural environment to infectious diseases. Nature
Reviews Microbiology. 2(2): 95-108.
Post, J.C., Stoodley, P., Hall-Stoodley, L. and Ehrlich, G.D. 2004. The role of biofilms in otolaryngologic infections. Curr
Opin Otolaryngol. 12(3):185-190.
Hall-Stoodley, L. and Stoodley P. 2005. Biofilm
formation and dispersal and the transmission of human pathogens. Trends in Microbiology.
1:7-10.
Stoodley, P., Kathju, S., Hu, F.Z., Erdos, G., Levenson, J.E., Mehta, N.,
Dice, B., Johnson, S., Hall-Stoodley, L., Nistico, L., Sotereanos, N.,
Sewecke, J., Post, J.C. and Ehrlich, G.D. 2005.
Molecular and imaging techniques for bacterial biofilms in joint
arthroplasty infections. Clin
Orthop. 437:31-40.
Braxton, E., Ehrlich, G., Stoodley, P., Hall-Stoodley, L., Veeh,
R., Hu, F.Z., Fux, C., Quigley, M. and Post, J.C. 2005. The role of biofilms in neurosurgical
device-related infections. Neurosurg
Rev. 28;4:249-255.
Hall-Stoodley, L., Brun, O.S., Polshyna, G.P. and Barker, L.P. 2006. Mycobacterium marinum biofilm formation reveals
cording morphology. FEMS
Microbiology Letters. 257:43-49.
Hall-Stoodley, L., Watts, L.G.,
Crowther, J.E., Balagopal, A., Torrelles, J.B., Robison-Cox, J., Bargatze,
R.F., Harmsen, A.G., Crouch, E.C. and Shlesinger, L.S. 2006. Mycobacterium tuberculosis binding to human
surfactant proteins A and D, fibronectin and small airway epithelial cells
under shear conditions. Infect
Immun 74;6:3587-3596.
Hall-Stoodley, L., Hu, F.Z., Gieseke, A., Nistico, L., Nguyen, D.,
Hayes, J., Forbes, M., Greenberg, D.P., Dice, B., Burrows, A., Wackym, P.A.,
Stoodley, P., Post, J.C., Ehrlich, G.D., Kerschner, J.E. 2006. Direct detection of bacterial biofilms on the middle-ear
mucosa of children with chronic otitis media. JAMA 296;2:202-211.
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