Collaboration between Dr. Ronan Carroll (Biological Sciences) and Dr. Erin Murphy (HCOM-Biomedical Sciences) receives NIH grant to study how temperature influences Staphylococcus aureus disease.

S. aureus is responsible for over 18,000 invasive infections annually in the United States. In additional to causing disease S. aureus can be found harmlessly colonizing the nose of approx. 30 percent of the population. In these people the bacteria typically does not cause disease unless it is transmitted to another site in the body. When this transfer occurs the bacteria move from a relatively colder environment (~32 °C in the nose) to a warmer one (37 °C in the body). Drs. Carroll and Murphy have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how this temperature increase influences pathogenesis of the bacteria.