Overview
Mayo Clinic's Infectious Diseases Laboratory, led by Robin Patel, M.D., focuses on microbial biofilms and antibacterial resistance. Biofilms are a unique state of existence preferentially assumed by microorganisms in most environments. They are estimated to be involved in two-thirds of human infections, making them enormously relevant to public health. Biofilms protect microorganisms from environmental stresses, most currently available antibiotics and host immune defenses.
The laboratory's team is working to understand mechanisms of biofilm formation and devise and evaluate new diagnostics and therapeutics for biofilm-associated infections. This includes device-related infections, such as prosthetic joint infections, endocarditis and catheter-associated infections, and wound infections.
The laboratory also focuses on studies addressing the crisis in antibacterial resistance, including the evaluation of new antibacterial therapies in vitro and in vivo, emerging pathogens and their pathogenesis, and diagnostic approaches that address antibacterial resistance.
A rich history
The Infectious Diseases Laboratory at Mayo Clinic has a rich history of education and innovation. The origins of research in infectious diseases at Mayo trace back to Wallace E. Herrell, M.D., who established the clinical efficacy and pharmacokinetics of penicillin. He was the first to describe successful penicillin therapy for sulfonamide-resistant gonococcal arthritis.
Dr. Herrell also was the last first assistant to Charles H. Mayo, M.D.
Joseph E. Geraci, M.D., later performed a series of landmark studies on bacterial endocarditis. He was one of the first to work with vancomycin.
The physical laboratory was founded circa 1981 by Walter R. Wilson, M.D., who worked with experimental animal models of endocarditis. Subsequent to Dr. Wilson, the laboratory was under the directorship of James M. Steckelberg, M.D.
Since 2000, Robin Patel, M.D., has been the director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory. She also is chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology and director of its Bacteriology Laboratory.
Affiliation
Dr. Patel's Infectious Diseases Laboratory is affiliated with Mayo Clinic's Division of Infectious Diseases Research.