Scientific Advisory Board

Scientific Advisory Board

Vanessa Sperandio, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Microbiology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Sperandio is an Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center with joint appointments in the Departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry. She is an expert and leading researcher of a number of bacterial pathogens. Specifically, a major research focus is how bacterial pathogens detect or sense the environment that then triggers virulence and cause disease. Bacteria of active interest in her laboratories include E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC), other pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Francisella tularensis. She is the technology founder and PI of our co-development effort with UT Southwestern Medical Center to develop therapeutics that function as “QseC Antagonists”. Such antagonists block a number of bacterial pathogens from sensing the proper host environment before initiating disease.