Todd P. Primm Associate Professor & Department Chair Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine Office: LDB 300 Phone: (936) 294-1538 Fax: (936) 294-3940 E-mail: tprimm@shsu.edu

Research Interests

Research of my group is focused on the physiology and biochemistry of bacteria, primarily within the genus Mycobacterium. Several features make these approximately 80 species of microorganisms fascinating. First, two obligate pathogens cause over three millions deaths per year worldwide of humans, M. tuberculosis and M. leprae. Second, most of the Mycobacteria are instead environmental organisms in soil and water, but can act as opportunistic pathogens in many animals, including chickens, pigs, cows, and humans. Often they result in infections which cause chronic, wasting diseases. Few antibiotics are available to treat them. Third, the cell wall of mycobacteria is more than twice the thickness and much more complex than other prokaryotes. The synthesis, regulation, and maintenance of this rather unique structure is of great biochemical interest. This cell wall is responsible for the characteristic acid-fast positive staining of this genus. Finally, the ecological interactions of these bacteria with other bacteria, as parasites and possibly endosymbiotes of protozoans, with plants, and with animals, is under-explored and of great interest to us.

 

Recent Publications

Bland, C. S., Ireland, J., Lozano, E., Alvarez, M. E., and Primm, T. P. "Mycobacterial Ecology in the Rio Grande" (2005) Applied & Environmental Microbiology. 71(10).

Rajabi, L., Courreges, C., Montoya, J., Aguilera, R.J., and Primm, T. P. "Acetophenones with Selective Antimycobacterial Activity" (2005) Letters in Applied Microbiology. 40(3), 212-217.

Archuleta, R. J., Hoppes, Y. P., and Primm, T. P. "Mycobacteria Enter a State of Metabolic Dormancy in Response to Starvation" (2005) Tuberculosis. 85(3), 147-158.

Primm, T. P., and Falkinham, J.O. "Infectious Disease: Environmental Mycobacteria." Chapter within the Encyclopedia of Public Health, Kristian Heggenhougen, Chief Editor. 2007. Elsevier, Inc.

Primm, T. P., and Franzblau, S. G. "Recent Advances in Methodologies for the Discovery of Antimycobacterial Drugs" (2007) Current Bioactive Compounds. 3(3), 201-208.

Montoya J., Varela-Ramirez A., Shanmugasundram M., Martinez L.E., Primm, T.P., and Aguilera R.J. "Tandem Screening of Toxic Compounds on GFP-labeled Bacteria and Cancer Cells in Microtiter Plates" (2005) Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 335(2), 367-372.

 

The poster session at the Annual Fall Meeting of the Texas Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) conference held at SHSU in 2007.

In beautiful Colorado for the Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology, in 2008.

At the Spring 2007 American Society for Microbiology Conference in New Braunfels, TX. From left to right in the back row; Joshua Farthing (Gaillard lab), Dr. P, Anthony Nguyen (Primm lab), Jessica Belen-Rivera (graduate student-Gaillard lab), James Spurlin (Primm lab).  Front row Rekha Raghavendra (grad student-Primm lab), and Pamela Vazquez (Primm lab).

The whole crew from the labs of Drs. Deaton, Hargrave, and Primm. Spring 2007.

James and Rekha presenting at the joint Texas and South Central (AR,LA,MS) Branches of ASM meeting in Austin, Texas, in Nov. 2008.