Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very common with significant impacts on quality of life and health care costs. The rise of antibiotic resistance within bacteria that cause UTIs is making it imperative that we find new therapeutic targets for this disease. The Hultgren lab is studying many aspects of UTIs including bacterial mechanisms important in disease, host response, disease outcomes, susceptibility markers, and avenues for the development of new therapeutics. Their work is changing the way UTIs are evaluated, re-shaping models of bacterial infections in general, and spawning development of novel vaccines and anti-microbial therapeutics to diagnose, treat and prevent UTIs and their sequelae.

Prof. Hultgren received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Northwestern University (1987), and did post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Staffan Normark at the University of Umea, Sweden (1987-1989). He became an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in 1989, Associate Professor in 1995 and Professor in 1998. Scott Hultgren is the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology (since 2000), and was named the Director of the Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research at Washington University School of Medicine in 2007. Scott Hultgren was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS AND NEW ANTIMICROBIAL STRATEGIES
Prof. Scott Hultgren \| School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, USA

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very common with significant impacts on quality of life and health care costs. The rise of antibiotic resistance within bacteria that cause UTIs is making it imperative that we find new therapeutic targets for this disease. The Hultgren lab is studying many aspects of UTIs including bacterial mechanisms important in disease, host response, disease outcomes, susceptibility markers, and avenues for the development of new therapeutics. Their work is changing the way UTIs are evaluated, re-shaping models of bacterial infections in general, and spawning development of novel vaccines and anti-microbial therapeutics to diagnose, treat and prevent UTIs and their sequelae. Prof. Hultgren received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Northwestern University (1987), and did post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Staffan Normark at the University of Umea, Sweden (1987-1989). He became an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in 1989, Associate Professor in 1995 and Professor in 1998. Scott Hultgren is the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology (since 2000), and was named the Director of the Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research at Washington University School of Medicine in 2007. Scott Hultgren was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.	Selected references Selective depletion of uropathogenic E. coli from the gut by a FimH antagonist. Spaulding CN, Klein RD, Ruer S, Kau AL, Schreiber HL, Cusumano ZT, Dodson KW, Pinkner JS, Fremont DH, Janetka JW, Remaut H, Gordon JI, Hultgren SJ. Nature. 2017 Jun 22;546(7659):528-532. A mucosal imprint left by prior Escherichia coli bladder infection sensitizes to recurrent disease. O'Brien VP, Hannan TJ, Yu L, Livny J, Roberson ED, Schwartz DJ, Souza S, Mendelsohn CL, Colonna M, Lewis AL, Hultgren SJ. Nat Microbiol. 2016 Oct 31;2:16196. Fueling the Fire with Fibers: Bacterial Amyloids Promote Inflammatory Disorders. Spaulding CN, Dodson KW, Chapman MR, Hultgren SJ. Cell Host Microbe. 2015 Jul 8;18(1):1-2. Urinary tract infections: epidemiology, mechanisms of infection and treatment options. Flores-Mireles AL, Walker JN, Caparon M, Hultgren SJ. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2015 May;13(5):269-84. Website: http://hultgrenlab.wustl.edu/