The Abramovitch Laboratory focuses on tuberculosis research and drug discovery at Michigan State University.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis in humans and is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. A signature feature of M. tuberculosis pathogenesis is that the bacterium survives inside macrophages, a host immune cell that kills many other bacteria. The goals of Dr. Abramovitch's research program are to: 1) characterize how M. tuberculosis adapts to life inside a macrophage, and 2) apply these discoveries toward the development of new drugs. To achieve these goals, his team is using genetic, genomic, and biochemical approaches to characterize new genes and proteins that enable M. tuberculosis to succeed as an intracellular pathogen. These findings are then translated into high throughput screening platforms to identify small molecule compounds that interfere with M. tuberculosis adaptation physiology. In summary, the laboratory's mission is to make basic research discoveries that jump-start the development of new drugs to treat tuberculosis.
Robert Abramovitch, PhD, studies the mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis environmental adaptation.