Karla J Fullner-Satchell, PhD

Assistant Professor of Microbiology-Immunology
Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests:
The lab of Dr. Fullner-Satchell primarily studies the VcRtxA toxin of Vibrio cholerae: its mechanism of action, interaction with target cells, and its contribution to the stimulation of inflammation during V. cholerae infection.

Using genetic manipulation of the toxin on the chromosome of V. cholerae, they analyze the structure and function of the toxin by characterizing discrete domains essential for the toxin-dependent covalent crosslinking of cellular actin.

In the future, Dr. Fullner-Satchell’s group plans to perform genetic screens of mutant cells in vitro to identify host factors essential for toxinogenesis. Finally, they are planning to utilize microarray and proteomic technologies to understand the host response to exposure to either toxin or whole cell V. cholerae, both in tissue culture cells and infected tissues.