Our April 24^th Levy CIMAR Science Seminar will explore C. difficile from both clinical and basic science perspectives. We will hear from two speakers this month: Tufts Medical Center’s Majd (Soubani) Alsoubani, MD, MPH, an Attending Physician with expertise in antimicrobial stewardship and infections in immunocompromised hosts, and Greg Harrison, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of CIMAR’s Aimee Shen, PhD, studying the molecular machinery that is required for cell division in C. diff and working to identify novel therapeutic targets to combat this dangerous pathogen.

Please join us on Thursday, April 24^th, at 12 noon in M&V 412 (4th floor, M&V Building, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston) and by Zoom (details to come).

Dr. Alsoubani will present on “Evaluating the role of Clostridioides difficile clades and ribotypes on clinical outcomes and response to treatment.“ The talk will include data on the impact of C. difficile strains on clinical outcomes.

Dr. Harrison will present on “Defining the essential role of PBP1 in the non-canonical divisome of Clostridioides difficile.” C. difficile carries out the essential process of cell division using a mechanism that is fundamentally different from previously studied bacteria, so this pathway could be a source of new species-specific therapeutic targets. This talk will explore Dr. Harrison’s work on understanding the molecular details of cell division in C. difficile, including the critical role of the enzyme PBP1.