P. Scott Hefty, Professor, MB Undergraduate Studies Director
He is also working as Principal Investigator of Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease, Kansas
Hefty Lab: Chlamydia (klah-MID-e-a) are obligate intracellular bacteria that are propagated and maintained through a phylum defining bi-phasic developmental cycle. The bacteria are transmitted between cells and hosts as small, metabolically inert, Elementary Bodies (EB).
After directing entry into a eukaryotic cell, the EBs quickly modifies the early endosome into a Chlamydia-specific vesicle termed an inclusion. Within the inclusion, EBs convert into the replicative and metabolically active form termed the Reticulate Body (RB). RBs, go through numerous rounds of binary fission before asynchronous conversion of RBs into EBs. Replication and conversion continue until the infected cell is lysed or a portion of the inclusion is extruded away from the host cell, enabling a new infection.