Jeniel Nett
Credentials: MD, PhD
Position title: Assistant Professor
Email: jenett@medicine.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-7494
Address:
Microbial Sciences Building
1550 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706
- Lab
- Nett Lab Website
Focus Groups
Immunology/Immunopathology
Education
MD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
PhD, Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Molecular Mycology, Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole MA
Research Summary
The host response to biofilm infections, with the goal of devising new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of these common infections.
Research Detail
My research focuses on the host response to biofilm infections, with the goal of devising new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of these common infections. Patients with indwelling medical devices, such as venous catheters, are at risk for invasive disease caused by various fungal and bacterial pathogens. In these patients, organisms adhere to the device surface and proliferate as a biofilm of resilient cells encased in an extracellular matrix. As the host immune system and conventional anti-infectives are often not capable of eradicating biofilms, these infections can have devastating consequences. Our laboratory studies Candida, the most common nosocomial fungal pathogen, and how the transition to the biofilm lifestyle protects Candida from immune clearance.