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

• 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

• Marion, C., Steward J.M., Tazi, M.F., Burnaugh, A.M., Kinke, C.M., Woodiga, S.A., and King, S.J.. 2012. Streptococcus pneumoniae can utilize multiple sources of hyaluronic acid for growth.  Infection and Immunity. (Formally Accepted)
• Marion C., Burnaugh A. M., Woodiga S. A., King S. J.. 2011. Sialic acid transport contributes to pneumococcal colonization.  Infection and Immunity. Vol. 79, no. 3. (March): 1262-1269. (IF: 4.205)
• 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. 10, no. 79.
• Chen G., Chen X., King S., Cavassani K.A., Cheng J., Zheng X., Cao H., Yu H., Qu J., Fang D., Wu W., Bai X., Liu J., Woodiga S., Chen C., Sun L., Hogaboam C.M., Kunkel S.L., Zheng P and Liu Y. 2011. Disruption of Sialic Acid-dependent Pattern Recognition Exacerbates Polybacterial Sepsis.  Nature Biotechnology. no. 29. : 428-435. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt.1846.
• Limoli, D.H., Sladek, J.A., Fuller, L.A., Singh, A.K. and King, S.J.. 2011. BgaA acts as an adhesin to mediate attacement of some pneumococcal strains to human epithelial cells.  Microbiology. Vol. 8, no. 157. : 2369-2381.
• 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 1): 15.
• Marion, C., Limoli, D. H., Bobulsky, G. H., Abraham, J. L., Burnaugh, A. M., and King, S. J.. 2009. Identification of a pneumococcal O-glycosidase that modifies O-linked glycans.  Infection and Immunity. Vol. 77, no. 4: 1389-1396. (IF: 3.996)
• Gut, H., King, S. J., and Walsh, M. A. 2008. Structural and functional studies of Streptococcus pneumoniae neuraminidase B: an intramolecular transsialidase.  FEBS Letters. Vol. 582: 3348-3352. . PubMed ID: 18775704
• Burnaugh A. M., Frantz L. J., King, S. J.. 2008. Growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae on human glycoconjugates is dependent upon the sequential activity of bacterial exoglycosidases.  The Journal of Bacteriology. Vol. 190: 221-230. http://jb.asm.org/cgi/reprint/190/1/221. (IF: 3.996)
• Roche A. M., King, S. J., Weiser J. N. 2007. Live attenuated Streptococcus pneumoniae strains induce serotype-independent mucosal and systemic protection in mice.  Infection and Immunity. Vol. 75: 2469-2475. . (IF: 3.996) PubMed ID: 17339359
• 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.  Molecular Microbiology. Vol. 59: 961-974. . (IF: 5.462) PubMed ID: 16420364
• King, S. J., Whatmore, A. M., 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: 5376-5786. . (IF: 4.013) PubMed ID: 16030232
• 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: 4740-4747. . (IF: 4.013) PubMed ID: 15231806
• 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. : 159-171. . (IF: 5.462) PubMed ID: 15458413
• King, S. J., Leigh J. A., Heath P. J., Luque I., Tarradas C., Dowson C. G., 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: 3671-3680. . (IF: 3.708) PubMed ID: 12354864
• 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: 7161-7164. . (IF: 3.996) PubMed ID: 12438402
• King, S. J., Heath, P., 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: characterization of the genetic basis of suilysin absence in isolates frequently associated with pneumonia.  Infection and Immunity. Vol. 69: 7572-7582. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11705935. (IF: 3.996)
• Muller-Graf, C., Whatmore, A., King, S. J., 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. Vol. 145: 2776-2782. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=10589738. (IF: 3.11)
• 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: 2776-2782. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=10338480. (IF: 3.996)
• Dowson, C. G., Barcus, V., King, S. J., Pickerill, P., Whatmore, A. M. and Yeo, M. 1997. Horizontal gene transfer and the evolution of resistance and virulence determinants of Streptococcus.  Journal of Applied Microbiology. Vol. 26: 42S-51S. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=9436316. (IF: 2.501)