Paul Meers
Biography
Dr. Paul Meers is Undergraduate Program Director, Assistant Teaching Professor and Researcher in Biotechnology as well as Co-Director of the Biotechnology and Genomics Concentration in the Masters in Business and Science Program. Recent research has been focused on traffic and delivery to cells via either naturally-occurring or investigator-designed nanoscale vesicles. Specifically our studies have revealed the fusogenic nature of the outer membrane vesicles (OMV) of gram negative bacteria and shown that those from the biocontrol species Lysobacter enzymogenes C3 make a major contribution to the delivery of polyketide antifungal agents to fungal host cells. Identification and development of appropriate delivery strategies for agricultural and pharmaceutical applications is underway. One of the most important problems in biopharmaceutical research has been the development of methods to deliver biologics that act inside target cells. Infections in which bacteria form biofilms are a particularly relevant example, where it has been difficult to appropriately deliver antibacterial agents and to avoid antibiotic resistance. Hence research is also underway in our lab to utilize the OMV associated with bacterial biofilms to design delivery strategies for small RNAs or other potential intracellular therapeutics that will bypass antibiotic resistance and help to control biofilm infections.
Title and Address
Assistant Teaching Professor, Undergraduate Program Director, Biotechnology
Department of Plant Biology
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey