• Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology

• Campus Address: MS 420
• Telephone: (317) 274-8143
• E-mail: mebauer@iupui.edu
  
  
• Lab Website:
  http://www.iupui.edu/~bauerlab/

Hal Broxmeyer named distinguished professor at IUSM (click here for more details)

Janice Blum discusses Immunology & Infectious Diseases (click here for more details)

Training:
• A.B.,1985, Washington University
• M.A.,1988, University of Missouri-Columbia
• Ph.D.,1996, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Postdoctoral,1996-2000, Indiana University School of Medicine
• Assistant Scientist, 2000-2004, Indiana University School of Medicine,   Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases

Summary of research:
Our laboratory focuses on the pathogenesis of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases, with an emphasis on the host-pathogen interactions of Haemophilus ducreyi , which causes chancroid, and Chlamydia trachomatis , which causes genital and extragenital chlamydia infections, with the human host.  

Description and summary of research focus of the laboratory:
Our research focuses on human host-pathogen interactions of the sexually transmitted bacterial agents Haemophilus ducreyi and Chlamydia trachomatis.   H. ducreyi is a pathogen of human skin and causes chancroid, a genital ulcer disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia that facilitates the transmission of HIV.   We have previously demonstrated that, in an experimental model of H. ducreyi infection, the organism survives extracellularly within pustules in a milieu of professional phagocytes where it is often surrounded by fibrin.  H. ducreyi is also found in the dermis in vivo, where it localizes with collagen. In our research, we use molecular tools and confocal microscopy-based imaging analysis to understand virulence mechanisms by which H. ducreyi survives in vivo. We identify putative virulence factors and determine their roles in human disease through use of a human model of experimental infection. We also characterize these virulence factors at the molecular level and develop appropriate functional assays to define their roles in mechanisms such as adherence or resistance to the killing effects of human phagocytes. In a recently completed study, we examined gene induction in vivo and in response to relevant stimuli in vitro. Through these studies, we identified a number of putative virulence factors that are expressed in vivo. We are currently utilizing the techniques described above to examine their roles in pathogenesis of H. ducreyi .

C. trachomatis is the leading cause of sexually transmitted bacterial diseases.   The initial sites of C. trachomatis infection are typically the urethra of males and the cervix of females. Little is known about the early interactions of C. trachomatis with the epithelial barriers at sites of initial infection. Using primary cell models and confocal and electron microscopy, we are examining interactions of C. trachomatis with relevant epithelial cell types, focusing on mechanisms of attachment and entry.  

Publications
Bauer, M. E. and S. M. Spinola. 1999. Binding of Haemophilus ducreyi to extracellular matrix proteins. Infect. Immun. 67: 2649-2652

Bauer, M. E. and S. M. Spinola. 2000. Localization of Haemophilus ducreyi at the pustular stage of disease in the human model of infection. Infect. Immun. 68: 2309-2314.  

Bauer, M. E., M. P. Goheen, C. A. Townsend, and S. M. Spinola. 2001.   Haemophilus ducreyi associates with phagocytes, collagen, and fibrin and remains extracellular throughout infection of human volunteers. Infect. Immun. 69:2549-2557.  

Spinola, S. M., M. E. Bauer, and R. S. Munson, Jr. 2002.   Immunopathogenesis of Haemophilus ducreyi infection (chancroid). Infect. Immun. 70:1667-1676.  

Spinola, S. M., C. T. H. Bong, A. Faber, K. R. Fortney, S. Bennett, C. Townsend, B. Zwickl, S. D. Billings, T. L. Humphreys, M. E. Bauer, and B. P. Katz. 2003. Host effect on outcome in the human challenge model of Haemophilus ducreyi infection. Infect. Immun. 71:6658-6663.

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