The O’Brien Lab is a new lab in the department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN.

We investigate mechanisms through which chronic bacterial infections remodel host tissues.

One model system we study is gastric cancer, the fifth most common cancer worldwide. About 80% of gastric cancer cases are attributed to stomach infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

We use microbiology, immunology and cell biology approaches to investigate how chronic H. pylori infection remodels the gastric epithelium, leading to cancer development.

This work is currently funded by Purdue University and the National Cancer Institute.

Our second model system is chronic urinary tract infection caused by Escherichia coli. Chronic E. coli infection can remodel the bladder epithelium and leave it permanently susceptible to infection.