Dr. Sullivan is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is taking a systems biology approach to understand the genetic vulnerabilities of the gram-negative multidrug-resistant pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. His work uses CRISPR-interference technology and transposon mobile elements to perturb bacterial genes genome-wide, combined with RNA sequencing to capture the cellular response from each perturbation. His long-term goal is to implement this systems biology approach to better understand the basic biology of bacteria with a translation towards the next generation of antibiotics. Prior to his fellowship work, he received his PhD from McGill University under the mentorship of Dr. Marcel Behr, where he led a drug discovery program for mycobacteria and described novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms. This work identified the pre-clinical development of benzoxaborole-containing compounds towards mycobacteria, which are now being explored in clinical trials. While obtaining his PhD, he co-coordinated and instructed a course focused on bacterial pathogenesis in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology for four years.
- BSc (Hons), Biochemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Antibiotic drug discovery using high-throughput chemical screens
- Characterizing resistance mechanisms in mycobacteria and gram-negative pathogens
- Genetic perturbations using CRISPR technologies to map genotype-phenotype landscapes