Catherine Brissette

Research Focus: The host-pathogen interface
Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi

The overarching theme of the laboratory is to discover how these microbes persist and cause long-term, even lifelong, infections

Lyme disease is the most common arthropod-borne disease that affects humans in the United States, with an estimated 300,000 cases per year

Questions:
  Why does B. burgdorferi has a tropism for certain tissue?
  What are the function(s) of B. burgdorferi’s “hypothetical” proteins?
  How does B. burgdorferi control the expression of virulence factors?
  How do epigenetic modifications affect host response?



Impact: Understanding the specific interactions at the host-pathogen interface will lead to development of novel therapies against B. burgdorferi, as well as other extracellular, vector-borne and zoonotic pathogens.

Recent  Publications

Divan, A., Casselli, T., Narayanan, S.A., Mukherjee, S., Zawieja, D.C., Watt, J.A., Brissette, C.A., Newell-Rogers, M.K. (2018) Borrelia burgdorferi adhere to blood vessels in the dura mater and are associated with increased meningeal T cells during murine disseminated borreliosis. . PLoS One 13(5):e0196893. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196893. PMID: 29723263

Greenmyer, J., Gaultney, R.A., Brissette, C. A., Watt, J.A. (2018) Primary human microglia are phagocytically active and respond to Borrelia burgdorferi with upregulation of chemokines and cytokines. Frontiers Microbiol 2018 Apr 25;9:811. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00811. PMID: 29922241 

Savage, C.R., Jutras, B.L., Bestor, A., Tilly, K., Rosa, P.A., Tourand, Y., Stewart, P.E., Brissette, C.A., Stevenson, B. (2018) Borrelia burgdorferi SpoVG DNA- and RNA-binding protein and its transcript affect the physiology of the Lyme disease spirochete. J Bacteriol. 2018 May 24;200(12). pii: e00033-18. doi: 10.1128/JB.00033-18. Print 2018 Jun 15. PMID:29632088

Condry, D.L.J., Bradley, D.S., Brissette, C.A. (2017). Designing a Lyme Disease Vaccine as a Tool to Teach Basic Concepts in Microbiology and Immunology in a Graduate Interdisciplinary, Active Learning Module. J Microbiol Biol Educ. 18(3): 2017 Oct 4;18(3). pii: 18.3.52. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v18i3.1304. eCollection 2017. PMID: 29854047

Casselli, T., Qureshi, H., Peterson, E., Perley, D., Blake, E., Jokinen, B., Abbas, A.,  Nechaev, S., Watt, J.A., Dhasarathy@, A., Brissette, C.A. (2017). MicroRNA and mRNA transcriptome profiling in primary human astrocytes infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. PLoS One,12(1):e0170961. PMID: 28135303

Stone, B.L., Tourand, Y., Brissette, C.A. (2017). Brave New Worlds: The Expanding Universe of Lyme Disease. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases DOI:10.1089/vbz.2017.2127. PMID: 28728515

Stone, B.L., Brissette, C.A. (2017). Host Immune Evasion by Lyme and Relapsing Fever Borreliae: Findings to lead studies for Borrelia miyamotoi. Front Immunol 8:12. doi: 103389/fimmu.2017.00012. PMID: 28154563

Arnold, W.K., Savage, C.R., Brissette, C.A., Seshu, J., Livny, J., and B. Stevenson (2016). RNA-Seq of Borrelia burgdorferi in multiple phases of growth reveals insights into the dynamics of gene expression and transcriptome architecture. PLoS One. 2016 Oct 5;11(10):e0164165. PMID: 27706236

Stone, B.L., and C.A. Brissette (2016). Borrelia miyamotoi - Laboratory cultivation and maintenance. Current Protocols in Microbiology. 2016 Aug 12;42:12F.1.1-6. doi: 10.1002/cpmc.12. PMID: 27517334.

Gonzalez, T., Gaultney, R.A., Floden, A.M., and C.A. Brissette. (2015). Escherichia coli lipoprotein binds human plasminogen via an intramolecular domain.  Frontiers Microbiol, 6:1095. PMID: 26500634

Byram, R., Gaultney, R.A., Floden, A.M., Hellekson, C., Stone, B.L., Bowman, A., Stevenson, B., Johnson, B.J.B., and C.A. Brissette (2015). Borrelia burgdorferi RevA significantly affects pathogenicity and host response in the mouse model of Lyme disease. Infect Immun, 83(9):3675-83. PMID: 26150536

Stone, B.L., N. M. Russart, R.A. Gaultney, A.M. Floden, J. A. Vaughan, and C.A. Brissette (2015) The Western Progression of Lyme Disease: Infectious and Non-clonal Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato Populations in Grand Forks County, North Dakota. Appl Environ Microbiol 81(1):48-58.  PMID: 25304515

Petnicki-Ocwieja, T. and C.A. Brissette (2015). Lyme Disease: recent advances and perspectives. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 5(27).doi:10.3389/fcimb.2015.00027. PMID: 25883907

Claycombe, K.J., C.A. Brissette, and O. Ghribi (2015) Epigenetics of inflammation, maternal infection, and nutrition. J Nutrition 145: 1S-7S. PMID:25833887

Brissette,, C.A. and R.A. Gaultney (2014) That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it- an update on B. burgdorferi adhesins. Front Cell Infect Microbiol., 03 April 2014 |doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2014. PMID: 24772392