Student Profile: Timothy Sherrier

Research Summary
A health problem of growing concern is the rise of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), the incidence of which has been increasing over the last 15 years. Incidence rates of NTMs are growing to a point where they have eclipsed Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections in the developed world. These organisms are commonly found in the environment, especially in soil and natural water sources. NTMs are particularly dangerous for individuals with cystic fibrosis, for whom they are opportunistic pathogens that can cause chronic lung infections. Among NTMs, Mycobacterium abscessus is of particular concern as it is highly drug-resistant and capable of avoiding clearance by antibiotics. Despite being an environmental organism, M. abscessus can spread swiftly during human infection and is able to survive inside macrophages. Furthermore, the organism has intrinsic antibiotic resistance, meaning that it is resistant to a wide array of antibiotics without needing the commonly thought of resistance pathways present on plasmids. This intrinsic resistance comes in many forms, including toxin-antitoxin systems and antibiotic modifying enzymes. As such, M. abscessus treatments often result in prominent levels of treatment failure despite highly invasive therapies requiring the use of an array of antibiotics. My research focuses on these mechanisms of intrinsic resistance, with a special emphasis on antibiotic modifying GCN5-Related N-Acetyltransferases, in order to understand how M. abscessus avoids antibiotic clearance and improve future disease treatments.

Awards & Honors
NIH Biotechnology Training Program Fellow, Rutgers University, 2022 – Present 
Microbial Biology Hachnasarian Award, 2022 

Representative Graduate Courses Taken
Microbial Biochemistry 
Microbial Physiology 
Microbial Genetics