Ken Pinkston

In addition to general lab management duties, my research focuses on the generation and development of monoclonal antibodies for research, diagnostic imaging and potential therapeutic applications. Our lab has generated panels of high affinity antibodies through hybridoma technologies against many virulence factors present on the surface of enterococci including pili and the collagen binding domain, Ace. Our recent publication, “Targeting pili in enterococcal pathogenesis” emphasizes how we can apply our efforts to translational medicine. Additionally, directed panels of antibodies act as tools to improve our understanding of gene regulation and post transcriptional modification of surface protein expression in enterococci.