Robert N. Husson, MD

Department	Infectious Diseases
Hospital Title	Senior Associate Physician in Medicine
Academic Title	Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Phone	617-919-2900
Fax	617-730-0254
Email	Robert Husson
Location	300 Longwood Avenue Enders-7 Boston MA 02115

Research Overview

Robert Husson is interested in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, particularly the means by which the bacterium adapts to its host. Understanding the means by which the bacterium adapts to the host can identify novel anti-bacterial targets for the design of new therapeutics. The Husson laboratory has focused on two aspects of microbial adaptation:

• One is the regulation of transcription in M. tuberculosis. They have characterized several sigma factors of M. tuberculosis, including SigE and SigH, that are important in the response to oxidative and other stresses. Their ongoing work indicates that these regulators are important in the response to starvation and other challenges that are likely to be encountered during infection.
   
• The second area of Dr. Husson's research focuses on signal transduction pathways of M. tuberculosis. In addition to the typical bacterial two-component signal transduction systems, the bacterium has genes encoding 11 eukaryotic-like serine/ threonine kinases. The researchers are investigating two of these kinases, which are essential and appear to regulate cell division. They are currently seeking to identify the in vivo targets of these kinases, the signals that activate them, and to determine the function of these molecules in M. tuberculosis physiology. The next step is to screen for direct and indirect inhibitors of kinase function.

About Robert Husson

Robert Husson received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed an internship, residency, and fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston. He undertook research training at Whitehead Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Key Publications

• Kang C-M, Abbott DW, Park ST, Dascher CC, Cantley LC, Husson RN.  The mycobacterium tuberculosis serine/threonine kinases PknA and PknB: substrate identification and regulation of cell shape. Genes Dev 2005; 19: 1692-1704.
• Hahn M-Y, Raman S, Anaya M, Husson RN.  The Mycobacterium tuberculosis ECF Sigma Factor SigL regulates polyketide synthases and membrane/secreted proteins, and is required for virulence. J Bacteriol 2005;187:7062-7071.
• Kang C-M, Nayapathy S, Lee J-Y, Suh J-S, Husson RN.  Wag31, a homolog of the cell division protein DivIVA, regulates growth, morphology and polar cell wall synthesis in mycobacteria. Microbiology 2008 154:725-735.
• Prisic A,Dankwa S, Schwartz D, Chou MF, Locasale J, Kang C-M, Bemis G, Church GM, Steen S, Husson RN. Extensive phosphorylation with overlapping specificity by Mycobacterium tuberculosis serine/threonine protein kinasesProc Natl Acad Sci USA 2010: 107:7521-7526.