Munson, Robert

Robert S. Munson, Jr., Ph.D. is Director of the DNA Sequencing Core Facility at Columbus Children's Research Institute.  Dr. Munson serves as an Investigator at the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at Columbus Children's Research Institute.  He is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, and Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics in the College of Medicine and Public Health, and Department of Microbiology in the College of Biological Sciences.

Munson Laboratory
Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an important cause of otitis media in children, and a major cause of lower respiratory disease in children in the developing world. The organism is also associated with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, and pneumonia in elderly and immunocompromised patients. Haemophilus ducreyi is the causative agent of chancroid, a sexually transmitted disease. Chancroid ulcers facilitate the transmission of HIV. My laboratory is employing a number of genetic and immunological approaches in order to assess the role of outer membrane proteins, toxins and adhesins in the pathogenesis of Haemophilus disease.

Selected Publications
Post DM, Munson RS Jr., Baker B, Zhong H, Bozue JA, and Gibson BW. "Identification of genes involved in the expression of atypical lipooligosaccharide structures from a second class of Haemophilus ducreyi", Infect Immun 2006, in press.

Harrison A, Ray WC, Baker BD, Armbruster DW, Bakaletz LO and Munson RS Jr. "The OxyR regulon in nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae", J Bacteriol 2006, in press. 

Post DM, Munson RS Jr., Baker BD, Zhong H, Bozue JA, and Gibson BW. "Identification of genes involved in the expression of atypical lipooligosaccharide structures from a second class of Haemophilus ducreyi", Infect Immun 2006, in press. 

Mason KM, Bruggeman ME, Munson RS Jr., and Bakaletz LO. "The non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae Sap transporter provides a mechanism of antimicrobial peptide resistance and SapD-dependent potassium acquisition", Mol Microbiol 2006, in press. 

Bakaletz LO, Baker BD, Jurcisek JA, Harrison A, Novotny LA, Bookwalter JE, Mungur R and Munson RS Jr, (2005).  “Demonstration of type IV pilus expression and a twitching phenotype by Haemophilus influenzae”, Infect Immun 73(3):1635-43.
 
Harrison A, Dyer DW, Gillaspy A, Ray WC, Mungur R, Carson MB, Zhong H, Gipson J, Gipson M, Johnson LS, Lewis L, Bakaletz LO and Munson RS Jr, (2005).  “Genomic sequence of an otitis media isolate of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae: Comparative study with H. influenzae serotyped, strain KW20”, J Bacteriol 187(13):4627-36.
 
Post DM, Mungur R, Gibson BW and Munson RS Jr., (2005).  'Identification of a novel sialic acid transporter in Haemophilus ducreyi'.  Infect Immun 73(10):6727-35.
 
Munson RS Jr., Harrison A, Gillaspy A, Ray WC, Carson M, Armbruster D, Gipson J, Gipson M, Johnson L, Lewis L, Dyer DW and Bakaketz LO, (2004). 'Partial analysis of the genomes of two nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae otitis media isolates'. Infect Immun 72(5):3002-10.
 
Munson RS Jr., Zhong H, Mungur R, Ray WC, Shea RJ, Mahairas GG and Mulks MH, (2004).  “Haemophilus ducreyi strain ATCC 27722 contains a genetic element with homology to the Vibrio RS1 element that can replicate as a plasmid and confer NAD independence to Haemophilus influenzae”, Infect Immun 72(2):1143-1146.
 
Kolker E, Makarova KS, Shabalina S, Picone AF, Purvine S, Holzman T, Cherny T, Armbruster D, Munson RS Jr., Kolesov G, Frishman D, and Galperin MY, (2004). “Identification and functional analysis of 'hypothetical' genes expressed in Haemophilus influenzae”, Nucleic Acids Res Apr 30;32(8):2353-61.  

Contact
MunsonR@pediatrics.ohio-state.edu
Columbus Children's Research Institute 700 Children's Drive,
Columbus, OH  43205
Phone:  614-722-4092

Links
Webpage
Microbial-Pathogenesis Site
Dr. Lauren Bakaletz at CCRI
Dr. David Dyer at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center