Janowiak Lab

Welcome to the Janowiak lab web pages!

The Janowiak lab has two main focuses:

1. Bacterial glutathione metabolism as potential synergistic antibiotic targets combined with traditional antibiotics to combat drug resistant bacteria 

2. Antibiotic discovery and biotherapeutics against multiple drug resistant bacteria 

A summary of each focus is described below:

Bacterial glutathione metabolism as potential synergistic antibiotic targets combined with traditional antibiotics to combat drug resistant bacteria

Glutathione is an important small molecular weight thiol that is used by many aerobic and facultative anaerobic organisms to maintatin cellular redox homeostasis. Importantly, many pathogenic bacteria use glutathione and/or its metabolites both to contribute to its bacterial virulence and also to its bacterial survival during an infection. Since the bacterial glutathione metabolic enzymes and transporters are different than the human ones, we are investigating how inhibiting the functions of the bacterial enzymes and transporters increases the efficacy of many antibiotics currently in use in the clinic. This synergy may lead to alternative combination therapies against drug-resistant bacteria. We use Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS) as our model pathogen for this focus, but we are also exploring inhibiting glutathione-dependent reactions in other drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. 

Antibiotic discovery and biotherapeutics against multiple drug resistant bacteria

ESKAPE pathogens are very hard to treat and include six opportunistic bacteria that exhibit multidrug resistance and virulence: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp. Persistent use of antibiotics has provoked the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria, which render even the most effective drugs ineffective. It is critical that new antibiotics and biotherapeutics are discovered to help treat infections caused by ESKAPE pathogens. We currently have two aims:

1) Test antibiotic activity of various natural products against ESKAPE pathogens to determine optimal concentrations of the active ingredient(s) to inhibit growth and/or kill the bacteria. Our lab performs preliminary & secondary screening assays, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays of active ingredients of putative antibiotics and other natural products against ESKAPE pathogens. This aim is done in conjunction with the Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Microbe Screening Core along with active collaborations with the labs of John Tavis, Marv Meyers, and John Walker. 

2) Isolate, purify, and identify antibiotic-producing bacteria and antibiotic-producing fungi from various soil samples collected from the environment. This project is spearheaded by my course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) course in Antibiotic Resistance and Antibiotic Discovery (BIOL 4420, taught each spring semester). Follow-up, confirmation, and quantification screens against all ESKAPE pathogens is performed in my research lab. Identification involves sequencing 16S genes and ITS regions for the bacteria and fungi, respectively. 

For more information about our research, please feel free to contact me at blythe.janowiakmulligan[at]slu.edu, or check out my ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, or LinkedIn pages.

Dr. Janowiak also is the director of the Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (IDBI-SPUR). Find out more information about that program here.

Thanks for visiting!

*Janowiak Lab Banner Image credit: former undergrad researcher, Katie Vaeth (see Almuni lab)

Last updated: June 7, 2026