Dr. Cox's research interests center on investigation and development of new methods and technologies for molecular measurement of bacteria and bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) as a means of diagnostic detection, identification and simultaneous antibiotic resistance determination.  He is actively engaged in development and engineering of novel lateral flow and mass spectrometric measurement methodologies and instrumentation for bacterial and fungal diagnostics and biomarker identification/exploitation. 

 

Fundamental bacteriophage biology

The first of three primary thrusts of this work includes the study of phage-bacterial interaction and natural phage protein amplification for simultaneous, multiplexed bacterial detection/ID and antimicrobial resistance determination.  This involves investigation of the viral and bacterial processes at play in phage-host membrane interactions and their genetic and proteomic impacts on phage propagation during the natural infection cycle. 

 

Novel approaches and instrumentation for bacterial and phage detection and identification

The second focuses on development, validation, and implementation of new Metal Oxide-catalyzed Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometry (MOLI MS) instrumentation and methods for in situ cleavage of bacterial or fungal lipids into taxonomically tractable fatty acid biomarkers.  This involves study of the bacterial and fungal processes involved in lipid and fatty acid expression and their exploitation as taxonomic biomarkers exploited through in silico computational chemometric analysis.  Both of these lines of investigation are currently being advanced with a view towards translational application across a broad range of fields and industries including but not limited to veterinary and agriculture, clinical and personal care, food and beverage manufacturing, and military and homeland biodefense.

 

Drosophila GI tract modeling and therapeutic applications of phage biology

The third area of investigation centers on the use of Dr. Cox's previously described Drosophila GI tract bacterial colonization model to study therapeutic application of phages for treatment of antibiotic resistant infection.

 

The following are a brief overview of ongoing research projects.  Refer to the publications page for more details.  A full list is available at Google Scholar as well: https://goo.gl/dVZFsf

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• Development, validation and application of phage amplification, MALDI-TOF MS, MOLI MS, Lateral Flow and Raman Spectroscopy technologies for rapid microbial detection, ID and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.​

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• Discovery and phenotypic/genetic characterization of novel phages.  This includes isolation, genome sequencing and annotation, and metagenomic analysis of new phages from environmental and clinical reservoirs.

• In silico optimization and modeling of phage-based MS bacterial detection methods.

• Investigation and development of novel MALDI-TOF MS bacterial identification methods using metal oxide-catalyzed on-target conversion of membrane phospholipids into taxonomically profilable fatty acids (MOLI-MS) (patent pending).

• Investigation of MOLI-MS as a method of simultaneous microbial ID and antibiotic resistance determination.

• Investigation of novel lateral flow capillary concentration (LFCC) as a next-generation replacement of conventional LFI (patent pending).

• Investigation and application of LFCC technologies to rapid detection and quantification of prostate and breast cancer serum biomarkers.