Maggie So, PhD

• Immunobiology, BIO5 Keating Building, Rm 224
• Phone: 626-3097
• Fax: 626-4824
• Email: somaggie@email.arizona.edu
  
  
• Faculty Member's BIO5 Webpage Link

• University of Washington, 1976

Microbes have evolved numerous mechanisms to adapt to and co-existed with their human hosts. Our goal is to define these mechanisms in molecular terms, and to understand how they contribute to the genesis of disease. We focus on two microorganisms, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis, and the role their Type IV pili play in infection. During attachment, Type IV pili send physical and chemical signals into the cell, initiating a multi-dimensional communication system between the bacterium and the host, and activating signaling pathways that reduce cytoxicity. Using cell biology, biochemistry and (with our collaborators) biophysics techniques, we seek to define the components of this Type IV pilus-based communication system and the biological consequences that result from it.

• Higashi DL, Lee SW, Snyder A., Weyand NJ, Bakke A and So M. Dynamics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Attachment: Microcolony Development, Cortical Plaque Formation and Cytoprotection, Infect. Immun. 75:4743-4753, 2007
  
  
• Weyand N, Lee SW, Higashi DL, Cawley D, Yoshihara P and So M. Monoclonal antibody detection of CD46 clustering beneath Neisseria gonorrhoeae microcolonies. Infect Immun. 74:2428-2435, 2006
  
  
• Howie HL, Glogauer M and So M . Type IV pilus retraction mechanically stimulates MAPK signaling and enhances the expression of cytoprotective genes in epithelial cells. PLoS Biology Mar 22;3(4):e100, 2005
  
  
• Lee SW, Higashi DL, Snyder A, Merz AJ, Potter L and So M. PilT is required for PI(3,4,5)P3-mediated cross-talk between N. gonorrhoeae and epithelial cells. Cell Microbiol. 7:1271-01284, 2005
  
  
• Merz AJ, So M and Sheetz M. Pilus retraction powers bacterial twitching motility. Nature 407:98-102, 2000