Anna Hancock
@anna-hancock.bsky.social
Postdoc in the Donia Lab at Princeton || PhD in microbial biophysics in Datta Lab at Princeton
Great questions! Our work suggests that getting more nutrients to the local infection site is key. To determine which IV fluids accomplish this goal would require more nuanced PK/PD models, but we hope this work motivates such models to consider local nutrient conc alongside ab conc as a key metric
March 15, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Great questions! Our work suggests that getting more nutrients to the local infection site is key. To determine which IV fluids accomplish this goal would require more nuanced PK/PD models, but we hope this work motivates such models to consider local nutrient conc alongside ab conc as a key metric
In addition to clinical microbiologists, the results could be relevant to biophysicists interested in collective behavior & folks interested in controlling bacteria in the environment and industry. We'd love your feedback. Please repost/share with whoever might be interested! [8/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
In addition to clinical microbiologists, the results could be relevant to biophysicists interested in collective behavior & folks interested in controlling bacteria in the environment and industry. We'd love your feedback. Please repost/share with whoever might be interested! [8/8]
It was an honor to work with Arrow Dill-Macky, Jenna Moore, Catherine Day, Mohamed Donia, and my advisor Sujit Datta to unearth this consequence of population structure—providing a mechanistic basis for the commonly-seen discrepancy between antibiotic efficacy in liquid culture versus in vivo. [7/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
It was an honor to work with Arrow Dill-Macky, Jenna Moore, Catherine Day, Mohamed Donia, and my advisor Sujit Datta to unearth this consequence of population structure—providing a mechanistic basis for the commonly-seen discrepancy between antibiotic efficacy in liquid culture versus in vivo. [7/8]
Finally: One may expect that simply supplying more nutrients can overcome this bottleneck. But we found that in some cases, excess nutrient can unexpectedly promote the regrowth of resistant cells—which is bad! [6/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Finally: One may expect that simply supplying more nutrients can overcome this bottleneck. But we found that in some cases, excess nutrient can unexpectedly promote the regrowth of resistant cells—which is bad! [6/8]
We turned this intuition into a biophysical model that recapitulates the experiments, and yields principles that explain how collective nutrient consumption can slow the progression of this death front, protecting a population from a nominally deadly antibiotic dose. [5/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
We turned this intuition into a biophysical model that recapitulates the experiments, and yields principles that explain how collective nutrient consumption can slow the progression of this death front, protecting a population from a nominally deadly antibiotic dose. [5/8]
We found that this phenomenon arises because cells must be metabolically active to be killed by fosfomycin (& many other antibiotics). This requires nutrients — whose availability is shaped by transport & cell consumption — to penetrate into the population alongside the antibiotic. [4/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
We found that this phenomenon arises because cells must be metabolically active to be killed by fosfomycin (& many other antibiotics). This requires nutrients — whose availability is shaped by transport & cell consumption — to penetrate into the population alongside the antibiotic. [4/8]
We found a surprise: nutrient-starved populations exposed to fosfomycin (the test antibiotic) did not die—even at ~250x MIC, the level needed to stop growth in liquid culture!
But simply adding nutrient unlocked a propagating front of cell death (magenta in 1st post). [3/8]
But simply adding nutrient unlocked a propagating front of cell death (magenta in 1st post). [3/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
We found a surprise: nutrient-starved populations exposed to fosfomycin (the test antibiotic) did not die—even at ~250x MIC, the level needed to stop growth in liquid culture!
But simply adding nutrient unlocked a propagating front of cell death (magenta in 1st post). [3/8]
But simply adding nutrient unlocked a propagating front of cell death (magenta in 1st post). [3/8]
Lab tests of antibiotics usually study how they kill cells suspended in liquid. But in nature, bacteria inhabit spatially structured populations that can withstand antibiotics better. Why? We developed a way to probe this question in structured E. coli populations using granular hydrogels. [2/8]
March 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Lab tests of antibiotics usually study how they kill cells suspended in liquid. But in nature, bacteria inhabit spatially structured populations that can withstand antibiotics better. Why? We developed a way to probe this question in structured E. coli populations using granular hydrogels. [2/8]