Jeniel Nett

Credentials: Medicine & Medical Microbiology and Immunology Departments

Position title: Biofilm immunology

Email: jenett@medicine.wisc.edu

Address:
Dr. Nett’s research focuses on the host response to biofilm infections, with the goal of devising new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of these common infections. Patients with indwelling medical devices, such as venous catheters, are at risk for invasive disease caused by various fungal and bacterial pathogens. In these patients, organisms adhere to the device surface and proliferate as a biofilm of resilient cells encased in an extracellular matrix. As the host immune system and conventional anti-infectives are often not capable of eradicating biofilms, these infections can have devastating consequences. Dr. Nett’s laboratory studies Candida, the most common nosocomial fungal pathogen, and how the transition to the biofilm lifestyle protects Candida from immune clearance.