Many organisms inhabit soil and water, yet a relatively small percentage of these organisms have developed the capacity to cause human disease. L. monocytogenes, long used as a model for understanding innate and adaptive immune responses and various aspects of cell biology, also serves as a model for deciphering how a bacterium transitions from life in the soil to life within the cytosol. The Freitag Lab has been working to define how a key transcriptional regulator known as PrfA functions as the molecular switch that balances L. monocytogenes life as a saprophyte with life as an intracellular parasite.
Biography: Nancy E. Freitag, Ph.D. Dr. Freitag has been continuously funded for her research on different aspects of Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis for over 15 years. She is internationally recognized for her work on microbe-host interactions, and she has published more than 50 papers and book chapters while also serving as a member of journal editorial boards that include Infection and Immunity and Molecular Microbiology. Dr. Freitag has been a member or ad hoc member on numerous NIH study section panels, and she has served as an ad hoc reviewer for international foundations such as the Wellcome Trust. Dr. Freitag has been an invited speaker at more than 80 conferences, seminars, and colloquia, and has participated in a number of Science Career forums organized by various foundations, community colleges, and universities. She maintains an active interest in science education, and has been actively engaged in high school teacher and student science research mentoring programs, as well as serving for five years as an ASM judge for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Dr. Freitag's website and ASM lecturer information