Anthony Maurelli
Professor | University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, UNITED STATES
Anthony Maurelli studies bacterial genetics to address questions about how bacteria cause gut disease and sexually transmitted infections.
Biography
Tony Maurelli is a preeminence professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions Department of Environmental and Global Health. He is a bacterial geneticist who specializes in how bacteria cause disease. His particular research interest focus on diarrheal disease caused by Shigella and sexually transmitted infections caused by Chlamydia. He also studies how sewage can be used to monitor community health. A product of these studies is Gator WATCH (Wastewater Analysis to Track Community Health), a comprehensive program of testing, analysis, detection, and measurement of pathogens and molecular signatures of pathogens and diseases in wastewater. Gator WATCH also uses molecular tools to test sewage for chemical signals of drug use.
Areas of Expertise (9)
Laboratory Capacity Building
Wasterwater Epidemiology
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Shigella Genetics and Pathogenesis
Bacterial Pathogenesis
Chlamydia Genetics and Pathogenesis
Diarrheal Disease
Antimicrobial Resistance
Global Health
Media Appearances (3)
Wastewater surveillance researchers identify tools to estimate how many people are represented in a sample
UF College of Public Health & Health Professions online
2023-04-13
Wastewater-based epidemiology is a valuable public health surveillance tool that has been used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to track disease trends in a community over time. A team of investigators from the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions has identified a population biomarker that will help scientists generate the most accurate disease trend results in their communities.
Extensively drug-resistant Shigella infections are increasing. Here’s what you need to know.
Emerging Pathogens Institute online
2023-03-10
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recent warning about increasing rates of extensively drug-resistant shigellosis, a gut disease caused by Shigella bacteria. Shigellosis is rarely life-threatening and most people do not need treatment. But the increase in extensively drug-resistant strains is worrisome because it leaves fewer treatment options for those who need one.
UF technique improves accuracy of disease prevalence generated by wastewater surveillance
UF Health online
2022-11-18
Wastewater-based epidemiology is a valuable public health surveillance tool that has been used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to track infection trends, identify potential outbreaks and monitor novel viral variants of concern. A University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions team has tested a quantitative tool for use in wastewater-based epidemiology that has proved to be more effective than traditional approaches at estimating the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community.
Articles (3)
A multistate assessment of population normalization factors for wastewater-based epidemiology of COVID-19
Public Library of Science (PLOS)Andrew L. Rainey, et al.
2023-04-12
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a valuable tool for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection trends throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Population biomarkers that measure the relative human fecal contribution to normalize SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations are needed for improved analysis and interpretation of community infection trends.
Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in a small coastal community: Effects of tourism on viral presence and variant identification among low prevalence populations
Science DirectAndrew L. Rainey, et al.
2022-05-15
Wastewater-based epidemiology has been used to measure SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in cities worldwide as an indicator of community health, however, few longitudinal studies have followed SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in small communities from the start of the pandemic or evaluated the influence of tourism on viral loads.
Chlamydial MreB Directs Cell Division and Peptidoglycan Synthesis in Escherichia coli in the Absence of FtsZ Activity
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)Dev K. Ranjit, et al.
2020-02-18
Cell division is the ultimate process for the propagation of bacteria, and FtsZ is an essential protein used by nearly all bacteria for this function. Chlamydiae belong to a small group of bacteria that lack the universal cell division protein FtsZ but still divide by binary fission. Chlamydial MreB is a member of the shape-determining MreB/Mbl family of proteins responsible for rod shape morphology in Escherichia coli.
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