Matthew Bogyo
Stanford University, CA·Chemistry
Proteases are enzymes that cut other proteins. Many bacteria rely on proteases that are active only during infection, which makes these enzymes useful markers of disease.
- Fields
Chemistry
Microbiology & Immunology
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
chemical biology
activity-based probes
covalent probes
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Design and synthesize covalent peptide probes with electrophilic warheads that permanently and selectively bind BbHtrA, a Lyme disease bacterial protease that stays active at all infection stages.
- Attach these probes to a quasi-freestanding epitaxial graphene biosensor and test whether it rapidly detects Borrelia burgdorferi in small samples of patient blood and urine and in test synovial fluid.
- Develop a covalent active-site probe that targets DD-CPases, cell-wall enzymes found only in bacteria, in the five main bacterial causes of otitis media.
- Show in culture that a single probe carrying a fluorescent phototherapy dye can both image and, with light exposure, kill all five common ear-infection bacteria.
- Use validated probes in a mouse model of otitis media to confirm that the probes light up infected ears and that light treatment clears each of the five bacteria.
More about the research
Both of this lab's projects design covalent chemical probes, small molecules that bind permanently to a protease's active site, to detect bacteria. Covalent binding lets a probe tell an active infection apart from leftover traces of a past one. One project uses such probes for a Lyme disease test. The other uses them to see and kill the bacteria that cause ear infections in children.
Why it matters
Lyme disease often goes undiagnosed until it causes arthritis, heart, or nerve problems. A simple, inexpensive test for active Borrelia infection could allow earlier antibiotic treatment. For children with middle-ear infections, a probe that both confirms a bacterial cause and kills the bacteria with light could reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, which drives drug-resistant bacteria. The same approach could extend to other diseases with protease markers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Karen Cyndari
University of Iowa, IA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Measure whether Borrelia burgdorferi infection breaks down the tight-junction barrier formed by resident synovial macrophages, using infected human synovial explants imaged by confocal microscopy and histomorphometry.
Timothy Casselli
University of South Alabama, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine whether the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, the cell layer separating blood from the fluid around the brain, is where Borrelia burgdorferi and immune cells enter the central nervous system in infected mice.
Stephen Boppart
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether adding optical coherence tomography, a light-based imaging method that sees behind the eardrum, to standard pneumatic otoscopy improves diagnostic accuracy and reduces antibiotic prescriptions in children presenting to primary care with ear pain or suspected otitis media.
The school
Stanford University: 87 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 739 research doctorates a year.
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