Mary Estes
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Gut and respiratory infections are among the leading causes of illness and death worldwide. Yet it is still unclear why some people get sicker than others and what drives infection at the level of cells and molecules.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biomedical Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
human organoids
intestinal organoids
enteroids
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Determine how human rotavirus and norovirus replication and immune responses in human intestinal organoids change with co-culture of the donor's own immune and nerve cells, co-infection with other pathogens, and commensal bacteria.
- Characterize immune responses to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and coronavirus in human nose and lung organoids co-cultured with the donor's own immune cells, to build preclinical models that mimic human disease.
- Investigate the lung-gut axis of respiratory virus disease by infecting human intestinal organoids with respiratory viruses and examining the underlying mechanisms.
- Identify molecular drivers of susceptibility to enteroaggregative E. coli using immune co-culture, flow and stiffness cues, and an integrated organoid system with all four intestinal segments.
- Use organoid lines from many human donors to examine how host genetics shapes responses to gut and respiratory infections.
More about the research
One reason is that cell lines and animals often fail to mimic human disease well. This multi-institution center at Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University and MD Anderson Cancer Center takes a different approach. It uses human organoids, small 3D tissues grown from human stem cells that resemble real organs, to study infections of mucosal surfaces, the moist linings of the gut and airways. The center renews an earlier program that produced 42 publications.
Why it matters
Diarrheal and respiratory infections such as rotavirus, norovirus, RSV, coronavirus and pathogenic E. coli sicken and kill large numbers of people worldwide. Human organoid models that better reproduce human tissue could reveal why some people are more susceptible than others. They could also serve as preclinical platforms for testing whether new treatments for these infections are safe and effective.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Xiaoyang Hua
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the immune mechanisms by which a virus infecting only the nose recruits antigen-presenting cells to the lungs and boosts innate and adaptive lung immunity, a process called nose-lung cross talk.
Jennifer Melinda Bomberger
Dartmouth College, NH·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether TsiT, a T6SS immunity protein that resembles LysR-type gene regulators, acts as a transcriptional regulator that controls Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation.
Young-Mi Go Kang
Emory University, GA·Pharmacology
Determine whether cadmium enhances RSV-induced protein S-palmitoylation, the attachment of fatty acids to proteins, by changing the activity of zDHHC11 and acyl protein thioesterase in mice and lung cells.
The school
Baylor College of Medicine: 38 labs on PI Pages, $881M a year on research, 115 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.