Emilio Rivera
Department: Biochemistry
Faculty Mentor: Richard Caprioli, Ph.D.
Dissertation Description: Investigating Acinetobacter baumannii Murine Respiratory Infections with MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry
My research focus is the investigation of Acinetobacter baumannii in collaboration with Dr. Eric Skaar. A. baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for ~10% of all gram-negative hospital infections and considered to be one of the top six most important multidrug-resistant microorganisms by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is capable of untargeted, spatial analysis of hundreds to thousands of chemical species ranging from lipids (m/z 600 – 1,500) to peptides and proteins (m/z 2,000 – 30,000). As I am particularly interested in the host-pathogen interface of A. baumannii in infected tissue, IMS provides an opportunity for spatially targeted molecular analysis, providing new insight into the microenvironment at sites of infection.