Guoyun Chen, PhD, MD, an associate professor of Pediatrics Research at the UT Health Science Center and basic scientist at the Children’s Foundation Research Institute at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, has been awarded $2.26 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to continue researching new ways to treat sepsis, a potentially deadly immune response to infection.
In his project titled “The molecular mechanism of Siglec-E in bacterial clearance,” Dr. Chen is building on prior work investigating key interactions at the molecular level that may help inhibit bacterial sepsis progression.
Most cases of septic shock are caused by a type of bacteria known as Gram-negative bacteria, the most common being E. coli. In other research, Dr. Chen and his team previously discovered that special immune system receptors called Siglecs played a key role in the progression of sepsis. They found lack of Siglec-E increased mortality in organisms infected with Gram-negative bacteria. This heightened susceptibility correlated with impaired bacterial clearance, suggesting Siglec-E helps control the immune response against Gram-negative bacteria.
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