Frank Gherardini
Associate Professor of Microbiology
(No longer at UGA)
Creative Research
Medal 2000
Frank Gherardini has discovered that the bacterium that causes
syphilis and the bacterium that causes Lyme disease do not
require iron to survive in their human host as previously believed.
Instead, he found that these pathogenic bacteria require manganese
for survival and for gene expression, and that manganese is
prevalent in the central nervous system where these pathogens
reside. These findings are important because of the central
role iron plays in the growth and regulation of bacterial pathogenicity
and the unique mechanism by which these bacteria have circumvented
this limitation.
Dr. Gherardini joined the National Institute for Allergy and
Infectious Disease’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in 2000.
Source: 21st Annual Research Awards Program (2000)
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