Image of smiling Pat Secor

Office: Lewis 2B

Specialty: Bacteriophages, host-pathogen interactions, infectious disease

Email: patrick.secor@montana.edu

Research website 

CV

Education

2011   PhD, Microbiology, Montana State University
2006   BS, Biochemistry, Montana State University 

Research interests

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. We study Interactions between bacteria, bacteriophages, and the immune system. We are particularly interested in developing phage-based therapeutics to combat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

Publications

For a complete list of publications, see https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LpTGTwwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Schmidt AK, Schwartzkopf CM, Pourtois JD, Burgener E, Faith DR, Joyce A, Lamma T, Kumar G, Bollyky PL, Secor PR. 2024. Targeted deletion of Pf prophages from diverse Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates impacts quorum sensing and virulence traits. Journal of Bacteriology, 206 (5), e00402-23

Faith DR, Kinnersley M, Brooks DM, Drecktrah D, Hall LS, Luo E, Santiago-Frangos A, Wachter J, Samuels DS, Secor PR. 2024. Characterization and genomic analysis of the Lyme disease spirochete bacteriophage ϕBB-1. PLoS Pathogens, 2024;20(4):e1012122. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012122

Schwartzkopf, C.M., Taylor, V., Groleau, M-C., Faith, D. R., Schmidt, A. K., Lamma, T., Brooks, D. M., Déziel, E., Maxwell, K., and Secor, P. R.#. Inhibition of PQS signaling by the Pf bacteriophage protein PfsE enhances viral replication in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Molecular Microbiology. 2024; doi:10.1111/mmi.15202

C.D. de Mattos, D. R. Faith, A. A. Nemudryi, D. C. Bublitz, L. Hammond, M. A. Kinnersley, C. M. Schwartzkopf, A. J. Robinson, A. Joyce, L. A. Michaels, R. S. Brzozowski, A. Coluccio, D. D. Xing, J. Uchiyama, L. K. Jennings, P. Eswara, B. Wiedenheft, P. R. Secor. Polyamines and linear DNA mediate bacterial threat assessment of bacteriophage infection. PNAS, 2023, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216430120.

​Schwartzkopf CM, Robinson AJ, Ellenbecker M, Faith DR, Schmidt AK, Brooks DM, Lewerke L, Voronina E, Dandekar AA, Secor PR. Tripartite interactions between filamentous Pf4 bacteriophage, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and bacterivorous nematodes. PLoS Pathog. 2023;19(2):e1010925. Epub 20230217. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010925.

Secor, P. R., Michales, L. A., Bublitz, D.C., Jennings, L.K., Singh, P.K. (2022). The Depletion Mechanism Actuates Bacterial Aggregation by Exopolysaccharides and Determines Species Distribution & Composition in Bacterial Aggregates. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.869736.

Burgener et al., Filamentous bacteriophages are associated with chronic Pseudomonas lung infections and antibiotic resistance in cystic fibrosis. Science Translational Medicine  17 Apr 2019:Vol. 11, Issue 488, doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau9748.
​JM Sweere, JD Van Belleghem, H Ishak, MS Bach, M Popescu, V Sunkari, et. al., Bacteriophage trigger antiviral immunity and prevent clearance of bacterial infection. 2019. Science 363 (6434), doi: 10.1126/science.aat9691.

​Secor P.R., Michaels, L.A., Ratjen, A., Jennings, L.K., Singh, P.K. Entropically-driven aggregation of bacteria by host polymers promotes antibiotic tolerance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PNAS, Oct 2018, 201806005. doi:10.1073/pnas.1806005115

PR Secor et al. 2017. Filamentous bacteriophage produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa alters the inflammatory response and promotes noninvasive infection in vivo. Infection and immunity, 85 (1), e00648-16

PR Secor, JM Sweere, LA Michaels, AV Malkovskiy, D Lazzareschi, et al. 2015. Filamentous bacteriophage promote biofilm assembly and function. Cell Host & Microbe 18 (5), 549-559.

​KR Kirker, PR Secor, GA James, P Fleckman, JE Olerud, PS Stewart. 2009. Loss of viability and induction of apoptosis in human keratinocytes exposed to Staphylococcus aureus biofilms in vitro. Wound repair and regeneration, 17 (5), 690-699.

​SE Dowd, Y Sun, PR Secor, DD Rhoads, BM Wolcott, GA James, et al. 2008. Survey of bacterial diversity in chronic wounds using pyrosequencing, DGGE, and full ribosome shotgun sequencing. BMC microbiology 8 (1), 43.

​GA James, E Swogger, R Wolcott, PR Secor, J Sestrich, JW Costerton, PS Stewart. 2008. Biofilms in chronic wounds. Wound Repair and regeneration, 16 (1), 37-44.