Brittany Nairn, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor

Brittany Nairn, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Office: 63 Chalmers Hall
Phone: 785-532-6262
E-mail: blnairn@ksu.edu

Education

B.A. in Biology, Augustana College
Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Areas of Specialty

  • Bacterial metal homeostasis
  • Pathogenesis of bacterial infections
  • Molecular biology of nutrient and metal acquisition

I work in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Klebba. I research how bacterial pathogens acquire nutrient metals, particularly in the metal-limited environment of the host during infection. My studies focus on the Gram-negative pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, which is notorious for high rates of antibiotic resistance. In Gram-negative bacteria, a primary mechanism for acquiring nutrient iron is through the use of ferric iron-chelating siderophores such as enterobactin (FeEnt). These siderophores are imported by specialized receptors, such as FepA for FeEnt, and all of which transport siderophores harnessing energy derived from TonB. While there are three described siderophores produced by A. baumannii, there are 22 TonB-dependent receptors for which the majority have no associated function. My research aims to better define the functions of siderophore import and TonB-dependent receptor function in A. baumannii. The overall goal of these studies is to identify ways to inhibit TonB-dependent iron import for drug target development against organisms like A. baumannii for which we desperately need new antimicrobials.