Publications – Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics

Modeling the impact of racial and ethnic disparities on COVID-19 epidemic dynamics

Author(s): Ma KC, Menkir T, Kissler S, Grad Y, Lipsitch MJournal: medRxiv January 2021

The impact of variable infection risk by race and ethnicity on the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spread is largely unknown. Here,…

Loss of function of nitric oxide reductase associated with neisseria gonorrhoeae infection in women

Author(s): Mortimer T.D., Grad YH, Ma KC, Mortimer TDJournal: Am J Obstet Gynecol December 2020

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, must adapt to the variable selective pressures in the…

Big data and simple models used to track the spread of COVID-19 in cities.

Author(s): Ma KC, Lipsitch MJournal: NaturePMID: 33173216 November 2020

Behind the highly politicized disagreements over COVID-19 control measures lies a widely shared desire to return economic and social life…

Increased power from conditional bacterial genome-wide association identifies macrolide resistance mutations in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Author(s): Ma KC, Mortimer TD, Duckett MA, Hicks AL, Wheeler NE, Sánchez-Busó L, Grad YHJournal: Nat CommunPMID: 33097713 October 2020

The emergence of resistance to azithromycin complicates treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the etiologic agent of gonorrhea. Substantial azithromycin resistance remains…

Efflux Pump Antibiotic Binding Site Mutations Are Associated with Azithromycin Nonsusceptibility in Clinical Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates.

Author(s): Ma KC, Mortimer TD, Grad YHJournal: MBioPMID: 32843551 August 2020

Lyu and Moseng et al. used cryo-electron microscopy to characterize key residues involved in drug binding by mosaic-like MtrD efflux…

Adaptation to the cervical environment is associated with increased antibiotic susceptibility in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Author(s): Ma KC, Mortimer TD, Hicks AL, Wheeler NE, Sánchez-Busó L, Golparian D, Taiaroa G, Rubin DHF, Wang Y, Williamson DA, Unemo M, Harris SR, Grad YHJournal: Nat CommunPMID: 32807804 August 2020

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an urgent public health threat due to rapidly increasing incidence and antibiotic resistance. In contrast with the…

Targeted surveillance strategies for efficient detection of novel antibiotic resistance variants.

Author(s): Hicks AL, Kissler SM, Mortimer TD, Ma KC, Taiaroa G, Ashcroft M, Williamson DA, Lipsitch M, Grad YHJournal: ElifePMID: 32602459 June 2020

Genotype-based diagnostics for antibiotic resistance represent a promising alternative to empiric therapy, reducing inappropriate antibiotic use. However, because such assays…

Rapid inference of antibiotic resistance and susceptibility by genomic neighbour typing.

Author(s): Břinda K, Callendrello A, Ma KC, MacFadden DR, Charalampous T, Lee RS, Cowley L, Wadsworth CB, Grad YH, Kucherov G, O'Grady J, Baym M, Hanage WPJournal: Nat MicrobiolPMID: 32042129 February 2020

Surveillance of drug-resistant bacteria is essential for healthcare providers to deliver effective empirical antibiotic therapy. However, traditional molecular epidemiology does…

Genetic determinants of genus-level glycan diversity in a bacterial protein glycosylation system.

Author(s): Hadjineophytou C, Anonsen JH, Wang N, Ma KC, Viburiene R, Vik Å, Harrison OB, Maiden MCJ, Grad YH, Koomey MJournal: PLoS GenetPMID: 31869330 December 2019

The human pathogens N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis display robust intra- and interstrain glycan diversity associated with their O-linked protein…