Robert S. Heyderman

This study examines capsule switching in Streptococcus pneumoniae using whole-genome sequences, finding that switching is limited to specific capsule-type pairs and influenced by genetic and ecological factors.

Antibiotic treatment of meningococcal and other sepsis causative bacteria triggers the release of histone-like proteins (HLPs) that damage the endothelium and drive coagulopathy, but these effects can be neutralized by non-anticoagulant heparins or anti-HLP antibodies.

The paper shows that accessory capsular genes in Streptococcus pneumoniae enhance fitness, pathogenicity, and immune evasion without capsule switching.

The study compares CSF and blood transcriptomes in pneumococcal meningitis patients to identify mortality-associated inflammatory responses.

The paper introduces TyphiNET, a dashboard for exploring Typhi genomics data to support public health decisions on antimicrobial resistance and vaccine implementation.

The paper analyzes whole-genome sequences of pneumococcal isolates in Malawi to show expansion of vaccine serotype lineages with genetic changes in capsule and virulence genes post-PCV13 introduction.

The paper uses RNA sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid from meningitis patients to identify S. pneumoniae virulence factors, finding two genes linked to increased mortality and reduced infection persistence.

This study investigates how pneumococcal lipoproteins mediate epithelial microinvasion and finds that differential lipoprotein repertoires do not significantly impact microinvasion, suggesting post-translational modifications may be responsible.

The paper identifies a new sublineage of Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 in Malawi with a gene expression signature and increased fitness compared to its parent lineage.

This paper introduces RGStraP, a tool to infer genetic population structure from RNAseq data and shows it can control for population structure in gene expression analyses.

This study links genetic variation in Cryptococcus neoformans to clinical outcomes and virulence in animal models using GWAS and genomic data from 284 isolates.

The paper identifies reduced host transcriptomic signatures for tuberculosis using microarray data and validates them with digital PCR, showing high accuracy in distinguishing TB from other conditions and latent TB.

This study performs a pan-GWAS of Streptococcus agalactiae strains to identify lineage-specific genes linked to virulence and niche adaptation across different host environments.

This paper analyzes pneumococcal carriage genomic data before and after PCV13 introduction, showing reduced vaccine-type strains and limited serotype replacement.

This study identifies 43 genes associated with invasive pneumococcal disease using whole genome sequence data and a random forest machine-learning algorithm across three geographically distinct datasets.

This study compares inflammatory responses and clinical outcomes between pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis in HIV-high prevalence settings, finding worse outcomes in pneumococcal cases.

The paper identifies CSF gene expression patterns associated with increased mortality in pneumococcal meningitis, highlighting IL-17, Type 1 interferon, and neutrophil persistence pathways.