Harvard University | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | Harvard Medical School | Division of Medical Sciences

BBS Faculty Member - Deborah Hung

Deborah Hung

Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, HMS
Department of Molecular Biology, MGH, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Harvard Medical School
Simches Research Building, MGH, Office 7208
185 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: 617-643-3117
Fax: 617-714-8967
Email: hung@molbio.mgh.harvard.edu
Lab Members: 8 postdoctoral fellows, 3 graduate students, 2 senior scientists
Visit my lab page here.

The increasing emergence of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics is far outpacing our ability to develop novel therapies to treat these infections. Further, the methodologies used to both diagnose infection and predict appropriate courses of treatment are antiquated. Thus, novel ways of thinking about diagnosing and treating infectious diseases must be developed. By merging the powerful fields of chemical biology and bacterial genetics/genomics, we hope to provide insight into possible new paradigms for addressing infectious diseases. The goal of the Hung lab is three fold: 1) to understand mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis that might better predict both host and pathogen genes that are required for survival of the pathogen in vivo and that might ultimately suggest new ways to intervene based on disrupting the pathogen-host interaction; 2) identifying bacterial functions essential for in vivo survival and persistence (survival in the face of antibiotic therapy), and small molecule tools with which to probe the biology of these functions in vivo; and 3) identifying transcriptional responses to antibiotic stress and developing new tools to both rapidly diagnose a pathogen and determine antibiotic susceptibility based on these responses. Examples of approaches taken include high-throughput forward chemical screens, genomic characterization including single cell analysis, classical forward and reverse genetics, and multiple in vivo models to address these areas, which are described in more detail below.

1) Host and pathogen genetic requirements for bacterial survival in vivo. Using models of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, and Klebsiella pneumonia, we are conducting classical forward and reverse genetic and chemical genetic screens coupled with high content imaging to identify bacterial functions that are required for survival within host cells. To explore host factors important for bacterial pathogenesis, we are using a combination of chemical screening and RNAi to identify host genes involved in M. tuberculosis and Bacillus anthracis infection. We are also studying the pathogen-host interaction where heterogeneity exists in the interactions between immune cells to pathogens on the single cell level. At the other extreme, we are exploring host genes required at the whole organism level that are important for infection using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos as a model host and chemical screening for compounds that rescue an animal from lethal infection.

2) Identifying essential functions and small molecule tools with which to probe their in vivo biology. Bacterial functions required for survival during infection can be very different than those required for survival within a test-tube. Further, the complex physiology adopted by bacteria under certain conditions including within the host can allow them to persist in the face of host immunity and antibiotic treatment. We are developing novel approaches to identify small molecules that target essential functions of M. tuberculosis and P. aeruginosa under different growth and survival conditions that incorporate novel chemical biological and genomic technologies. We have developed custom barcoded strain libraries for comprehensive genetic and chemical screening to identify essential functions under these different conditions. Further, we have developed small molecules identified to target bacteria under these different conditions and are using them to probe in vivo biology in whole organism models of infection.

3) Identifying transcriptional responses to antibiotic stress and developing new tools to both rapidly diagnose a pathogen and determine antibiotic susceptibility based on these responses. Current diagnostic tests for infectious disease rely on culture-based methods, immunoasssays, and molecular techniques. These techniques are too slow, particularly in the case of M. tuberculosis where culture-based methods used to diagnose and determine antibiotic susceptibilities require weeks to months. In fact, bacteria alter their transcription in response to antibiotic exposure within minutes in efforts to evade the toxic effects of the antibiotic. By studying these rapid transcriptional responses, we are developing a sensitive and rapid approach to both identify a pathogen and determine its antibiotic sensitivity.

Last Update: 6/24/2014

Publications

For a complete listing of publications click here.

Stanley SA, Barczak AK, Silvis MR, Luo SS, Sogi K, Vokes M, Bray MA, Carpenter AE, Moore CB, Siddiqi N, Rubin EJ, Hung DT. (2014). Identification of host-targeted small molecules that restrict intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth. PLoS Pathog. 10(2):e1003946.

Stanley SA, Kawate T, Iwase N, Shimizu M, Clatworthy AE, Kazyanskaya E, Sacchettini JC, Ioerger TR, Siddiqi NA, Minami S, Aquadro JA, Grant SS, Rubin EJ, Hung DT. (2013). Diarylcoumarins inhibit mycolic acid biosynthesis and kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis by targeting FadD32. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110(28):11565-11570.

Barczak AK, Gomez JE, Kaufmann BB, Hinson ER, Cosimi L, Borowsky ML, Onderdonk AB, Stanley SA, Kaur D, Bryant KF, Knipe DM, Sloutsky A, Hung DT. (2012) RNA signatures allow rapid identification of Pathogens and antibiotic susceptibilities, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109(16):6217-22.

Hett EC, Slater LH, Mark KG, Kawate T, Monks BG, Stutz A, Latz E, Hung DT. (2013). Chemical genetics reveals a kinase-independent role for protein kinase R in pyroptosis. Nat. Chem. Biol. 9(6):398-405.

Grant SS, Kaufmann BB, Chand NS, Haseley N, Hung DT. (2012). Eradication of bacterial persisters with antibiotic-generated hydroxyl radicals. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109(30):12147-12152.