The rockefeller university

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Chad received his B.S. from the University of Vermont in 1998 in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. He earned his Ph.D. in the Fischetti Laboratory at Rockefeller University in 2010 and performed his postdoctoral research with us until he became an Assistant Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. Now a tenured Associate Professor with his own lab, Chad continues in the Fischetti lab as a Guest Investigator. His research interests include the involvement of lysogenic bacteriophages in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus pyogenes infections, animal models of bacterial infection and lysin treatment, and understanding the causes of rheumatic fever after streptococcal infection.

Dr. Fischetti is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology at the Rockefeller University, in NY. He has over 45 years of experience in the anti-infectives field, nearly all of which was spent at Rockefeller. His laboratory was the first to identify lytic enzymes as novel therapeutics to treat infections caused by the major antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens. The first lysin against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections has successfully completed phase 2 clinical trials and is currently in phase 3 testing; the first antibiotic alternative to achieve this milestone. Other lysins, particularly against gram-negative pathogens, are also in the clinical development pipeline. His group was also the first to identify the LPXTG motif, necessary for attaching surface proteins on the gram-positive cell wall. This motif is now being used as a target for antibiotic development. His laboratory was responsible for elucidating the coiled-coil structure of streptococcal M protein and defining the conserved region of this molecule for a non-type-specific vaccine against S. pyogenes. Dr. Fischetti is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the National Academy of Inventors, and was the recipient of two NIH MERIT awards. He has been editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Infection and Immunity for 10 years, and serves as advisory editor for the Journal of Experimental Medicine and Trends in Microbiology among others. Dr. Fischetti serves on the scientific advisory board of Lumen Bioscience and Persica Pharmaceuticals, as well as the Trudeau institute and is also a trustee of the Trudeau Institute. He has published over 250 primary research articles, over 70 textbook chapters and has co-edited two major books on gram-positive pathogens. He is an inventor of over 40 issued patents dealing with the control of infectious diseases. Dr. Fischetti received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from New York University School of Medicine.

Dr. Daniel Gilmer has worked on discovering and launching healthcare products since 2006. In the 2010s, he became an equal co-inventor on the patent for Exebacase – a first-in-class antimicrobial that was granted both Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designations by the FDA. Exebacase was the first phage lysin to enter a Phase 3 clinical trial. In the 2020s, he launched the COVID-19 antiviral PAXLOVID™ in the US. Dr. Gilmer first began serving healthcare clients during his five years at McKinsey & Company. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from The Rockefeller University in New York City and his college degree from Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Gilmer is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Rockefeller University Council, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives and works in New York City.

Ryan received his B.S. and B.A. degrees from the Pennsylvania State University in 2008, where he majored in Science and Journalism. He then obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Maryland in 2014 under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Nelson. He joined the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology in 2014 as a Postdoctoral Associate and was elevated to the role of Research Associate in 2019. During his time in the lab, Ryan has primarily focused on developing bacteriophage lysins as novel therapeutics for the treatment and prevention of bacterial diseases.

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Interested in the hypothesis that the “gut-brain axis” may play a pathogenic role in neurological diseases of unknown etiology. Multiple sclerosis (MS) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are two mysterious diseases that may benefit from a closer look at the gut-brain axis and its associated microbiome; specifically the role of gut bacterium, Clostridium perfringens, and its secreted Epsilon neurotoxin and Enterotoxin, respectively.

Patti earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University and joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow and continued as a research associate. After joining the faculty at Hunter College, Patti continues now as a Guest Investigator in the lab. Her studies center on the pathogenesis of group A streptococci and the specific human factors that influence susceptibility to streptococcal pharyngeal infections. Her work focuses on streptococcal gene regulation during initial stages of infection, namely pharyngeal epithelial cells and salivary (mucus) secretions. She is currently involved in a collaborative longitudinal study of children with acute streptococcal pharyngitis and throat carriage. Her research projects aim to determine the human and bacterial factors that correlate with infection susceptibility, and her approach to includes biochemical analyses of saliva, comparative genomics of clinical streptococcal isolates, and transcriptome evaluations of study strains.

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Sarah is a Tri-I MD-PhD student working on lytic enzymes that target gram-positive pathogens of human disease. Prior to joining, she received her MSc in biomedical science from HHU-Düsseldorf, her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Dance from Barnard College, and completed assistantships here at Rockefeller and at Novartis Basel. Beyond the lab, she co-founded WCMWQ, the first student-run LGBTQ+ mental health clinic and champions for the advancement of underrepresented groups in science and medicine.

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