Samantha J. King, Ph.D.

Samantha King, PhD is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. King’s research program focuses on the pathogenesis of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae.

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Gender:

• Female

Languages Spoken:

• English

Research Center:

• Center for Microbial Pathogenesis

Areas of Interest:

• Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is an important human pathogen causing more than 1 million deaths each year worldwide. A critical first step in pneumococcal pathogenesis is colonization of the airway. However, the mechanisms by which this important human pathogen establishes and maintains colonization is poorly understood. S. pneumoniae has the ability to manipulate host sugars. We hypothesize that bacterial deglycosylation of human targets may contribute to colonization and therefore pathogenesis. We are working to define ability of S. pneumoniae to modify host carbohydrates and the contribution of that to modification to pathogenesis. The long-term aims of my research are to understand how pneumococci efficiently colonize humans in order to design more efficient vaccines or therapeutics.

Undergraduate School

• University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
  Date Completed: 06/01/1994

Doctoral

• University of Warwick, Coventry UK
  Date Completed: 10/01/1999

Post Doctoral

• University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  Date Completed: 10/01/2002

Post Doctoral

• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
  Date Completed: 10/01/2005

• Buckwalter C.M. and King S.J. 2012. Pneumococcal carbohydrate transport: food for thought.  Trends in Microbiology. Vol. 20, no. 11. (September): 517-522.
• Marion C., Stewart J.M., Tazi M.F., Burnaugh A.M., Linke C.M., Woodiga S.A. and King S.J. 2012. Streptococcus pneumoniae can utilize multiple sources of hyaluronic acid for growth.  Infection and Immunity. Vol. 80, no. 4. (April): 1390-1398.
• Marion C., Aten A.E., Woodiga S.A. and King S.J. 2011. Identification of an ATPase, MsmK, which energizes multiple carbohydrate ABC transporters in Streptococcus pneumoniae.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 79, no. 10. (October): 4193-4200.
• King, Samantha J. 2011. Advances in Vaccines for Streptococcus pneumoniae. In XIAPO Manual of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. Edited by Sih, T., Chinski, A., Eavey, R., and Goddino, R.. Sao Paulo: Editora e Grafica Vida & Consciencia.
• Limoli D.H., Sladek J.A., Fuller L.A., Singh A.K. and King S.J. 2011. BgaA acts as an adhesin to mediate attachment of some pneumococcal strains to human epithelial cells.  MICROBIOLOGY-SGM. Vol. 157, no. August: 2369-2381.
• Chen G.Y., Chen X., King S.J., Cavassani K.A., Cheng J., Zheng X., Cao H., Yu H., Qu J., Fang D., Wu W., Bai X.F., Liu J.Q., Woodiga S.A., Chen C., Sun L., Hogaboam C.M., Kunkel S.L., Zheng P. and Liu Y. 2011. Amelioration of sepsis by inhibiting sialidase-mediated disruption of the CD24-SiglecG interaction.  NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY. Vol. 29, no. 5. (May): 428-435.
• Marion C., Burnaugh A.M., Woodiga S.A. and King S.J. 2011. Sialic acid transport contributes to pneumococcal colonization.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 79, no. 3. (March): 1262-1269.
• King S.J. 2010. Pneumococcal modification of host sugars: a major contributor to colonization of the human airway?.  MOLECULAR ORAL MICROBIOLOGY. Vol. 25, no. 1. (February): 15-24.
• Marion C., Limoli D.H., Bobulsky G.S., Abraham J.L., Burnaugh A.M. and King S.J. 2009. Identification of a pneumococcal glycosidase that modifies O-linked glycans.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 77, no. 4. (April): 1389-1396.
• Gut H., King S.J. and Walsh M.A. 2008. Structural and functional studies of Streptococcus pneumoniae neuraminidase B: An intramolecular trans-sialidase.  FEBS LETTERS. Vol. 582, no. 23-24. (October): 3348-3352.
• Burnaugh A.M., Frantz L.J. and King S.J. 2008. Growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae on human glycoconjugates is dependent upon the sequential activity of bacterial exoglycosidases.  JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. Vol. 190, no. 1. (January): 221-230.
• Roche A.M., King S.J. and Weiser J.N. 2007. Live attenuated Streptococcus pneumoniae strains induce serotype-independent mucosal and systemic protection in mice.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 75, no. 5. (May): 2469-2475.
• King S.J., Hippe K.R. and Weiser J.N. 2006. Deglycosylation of human glycoconjugates by the sequential activities of exoglycosidases expressed by Streptococcus pneumoniae.  MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY. Vol. 59, no. 3. (February): 961-974.
• King S.J., Whatmore A.M. and Dowson C.G. 2005. NanA, a neuraminidase from Streptococcus pneumoniae, shows high levels of sequence diversity, at least in part through recombination with Streptococcus oralis.  JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. Vol. 187, no. 15. (August): 5376-5386.
• King S.J., Hippe K.R., Gould J.M., Bae D., Peterson S., Cline R.T., Fasching C., Janoff E.N. and Weiser J.N. 2004. Phase variable desialylation of host proteins that bind to Streptococcus pneumoniae in vivo and protect the airway.  MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY. Vol. 54, no. 1. (October): 159-171.
• King S.J., Allen A.G., Maskell D.J., Dowson C.G. and Whatmore A.M. 2004. Distribution, genetic diversity, and variable expression of the gene encoding hyaluronate lyase within the Streptococcus suis population.  JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. Vol. 186, no. 14. (July): 4740-4747.
• Shakhnovich E.A., King S.J. and Weiser J.N. 2002. Neuraminidase expressed by Streptococcus pneumoniae desialylates the lipopolysaccharide of Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae: a paradigm for interbacterial competition among pathogens of the human respiratory tract.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 70, no. 12. (December): 7161-7164.
• King S.J., Leigh J.A., Heath P.J., Luque I., Tarradas C., Dowson C.G. and Whatmore A.M. 2002. Development of a multilocus sequence typing scheme for the pig pathogen Streptococcus suis: Identification of virulent clones and potential capsular serotype exchange.  JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY. Vol. 40, no. 10. (October): 3671-3680.
• King S.J., Heath P.J., Luque I., Tarradas C., Dowson C.G. and Whatmore A.M. 2001. Distribution and genetic diversity of suilysin in Streptococcus suis isolated from different diseases of pigs and characterization of the genetic basis of suilysin absence.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 69, no. 12. (December): 7572-7582.
• Muller-Graf C.DM., Whatmore A.M., King S.J., Trzcinski K., Pickerill A.P., Doherty N., Paul J., Griffiths D., Crook D. and Dowson C.G. 1999. Population biology of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from oropharyngeal carriage and invasive disease.  MICROBIOLOGY-SGM. Vol. 145, no. November: 3283-3293.
• Whatmore A.M., King S.J., Doherty N.C., Sturgeon D., Chanter N. and Dowson C.G. 1999. Molecular characterization of equine isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae: Natural disruption of genes encoding the virulence factors pneumolysin and autolysin.  INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. Vol. 67, no. 6. (June): 2776-2782.
• Dowson C.G., Barcus V., King S.J., Pickerill P., Whatmore A. and Yeo M. 1997. Horizontal gene transfer and the evolution of resistance and virulence determinants in Streptococcus.  JOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY. Vol. 83, no. January: S42-S51.
• Linke C.M., Woodiga S.A., Meyers D.J., Buckwalter C.M., Salhi H.E. and King S.J. The ABC transporter encoded at the pneumococcal fructooligosaccharides utilization locus correlates with the ability to utilize long and short chain fructooligosaccharides.  Journal of Bacteriology.