The Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Victor Nizet

Dr. Victor Nizet has a joint appointment with the Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Pediatrics in the UCSD School of Medicine, as Professor. He received his medical training at Stanford University School of Medicine, completed a Residency and Chief Residency in Pediatrics at Harvard University's Boston Children's Hospital, and finished a Fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington's Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle. In 2006, Dr. Nizet was named Chief of the new Division of Pediatric Pharmacology & Drug Discovery. This new Division will encompass faculty in basic, translational, and clinical research, including the investigators and staff of the UCSD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit.

Research Interests

Dr. Nizet's research is in bacterial pathogenesis and the innate immune system, with a special focus on human streptococcal and staphylococcal infections. Using a molecular genetic approach, the laboratory seeks to discover and characterize bacterial virulence determinants involved in cytotoxicity, adherence, invasion, inflammation, molecular mimicry and resistance to immunologic clearance. The laboratory also investigates the contribution of host factors such as antimicrobial peptides, leukocyte surface receptors, signal transduction pathways, and transcription factors in defense against invasive bacterial infection. Finally, novel treatment strategies for infectious diseases are sought from natural product libraries, targeted neutralization of bacterial virulence phenotypes, and pharmacologic augmentation of host phagocyte function. More information on Dr. Nizet's research program can be found on the laboratory website.

Selected Publications

Liu GY, Doran KS, Lawrence T, Turkson N, Puliti M, Tissi L, Nizet V. Sword and shield: Linked group B streptococcal ß-hemolysin/cytolysin and carotenoid pigment function to subvert phagocyte defense. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101:14491- 14496.

Lawrence T, Bebien M, Liu GY, Nizet V, Karin M. IKKalpha limits macrophage NF-kB activation and contributes to the resolution of inflammation. Nature 2005 434:1138- 1143.

Liu GY, Essex A, Buchanan JT, Datta V, Hoffman HA, Bastian J, Fierer J, Nizet V. Staphylococcus aureus golden pigment impairs neutrophil killing and promotes virulence through its antioxidant activity. J Exp Med 2005 202: 209-215.

Doran KS, Engelson EJ, Khosravi A, Maisey HC, Fedtke I, Equils O, Michelsen KS, Arditi M, Peschel A, Nizet V. Group B Streptococcus blood-brain barrier invasion depends upon proper cell surface anchoring of lipoteichoic acid. J Clin Invest 2005 115:2499-2507.

Karin M, Lawrence T, Nizet V. Innate immunity gone awry: Linking microbial infections to chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. Cell 2006 124:823-8235.

Buchanan JT, Simpson AJ, Aziz RK, Liu GY, Kristian SA, Kotb M, Feramisco J, Nizet V. DNase expression allows the pathogen group A Streptococcus to escape killing in neutrophil extracellular traps. Curr Biol 2006 16:396-400.

Walker MJ, Hollands A, Sanderson-Smith M, Cole JN, Kirk JK, Henningham A, McArthur JD, Dinkla K, Aziz RK, Kansal RG, Simpson AJ, Buchanan JT, Chhatwal GS, Kotb M, Nizet V. DNase Sda1 provides selection pressure for a switch to invasive group A streptococcal infection. Nat Med 2007 13:981-985.

McNamara CW, Zinkernagel AS, Macheboeuf P, Cunningham MW, Nizet V, Ghosh P. Coiled-coil irregularities and instabilities in Group A Streptococcus M1 are required for virulence functions. Science 2008; 319:1405-1408.

Liu C-I, Liu GY, Song Y, Yin F, Hensler ME, Jeng WY, Nizet V*, Wang AH*, Oldfield E*. A cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitor blocks Staphylococcus aureus virulence. Science 2008; 319:391-394. *share senior authorship

List of Publications in Pub Med