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Doctor Kyu Rhee

The Power of Untargeted Metabolomics


Combating bacterial infections through better physiological profiles

Professor Kyu Rhee at Weill Medical College of Cornell University is using metabolomics techniques and approaches to find new ways to treat infectious disease.

An Associate Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, Professor Rhee is specifically working on the causes of tuberculosis (TB) - the leading bacterial cause of deaths worldwide, and a disease whose treatment regimes are among the longest and most complex of any bacterial infection.

Recent genomics advances are expanding knowledge and increasing drug development in this area, although few new compounds or treatment targets have yet emerged. However, Professor Rhee's work using the analytical power of untargeted metabolomics technologies to investigate the physiology of bacteria is showing signs of progress.

Accurate mass analyses using Agilent's Time-of-Flight (TOF) LC/MS and 6500 Series Accurate-Mass Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (Q-TOF) LC/MS are ensuring a robust, precise approach to such physiological profiling, and our Mass Profiler Professional software is enabling custom approaches to processing the data collected. Agilent has also co-developed software solutions with Professor Rhee's team to further advance the research.

It is a fact that no new classes of antibiotics have been identified in the last 40 years, and infections have become ever more resistant to current treatments. This is an important area and one where Agilent is pleased to play a part.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

 Kyu Rhee M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Selected publications

Mass Spectrometric Identification of Urinary Biomarkers of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
Isa F, Collins S, Lee MH, Decome D, Dorvil N, Joseph P, Smith L, Salerno S, Wells MT, Fischer S, Bean JM, Pape JW, Johnson WD, Fitzgerald DW, Rhee KY.
EBioMedicine. 2018 May;31:157-165. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.04.014.

Metabolic principles of persistence and pathogenicity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Ehrt S, Schnappinger D, Rhee KY.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2018 Apr 24. doi: 10.1038/s41579-018-0013-4.

Metabolic anticipation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Eoh H, Wang Z, Layre E, Rath P, Morris R, Branch Moody D, Rhee KY.
Nat Microbiol. 2017 May 22;2:17084. doi: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.84.

Glyoxylate detoxification is an essential function of malate synthase required for carbon assimilation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Puckett S, Trujillo C, Wang Z, Eoh H, Ioerger TR, Krieger I, Sacchettini J, Schnappinger D, Rhee KY, Ehrt S.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Mar 14;114(11):E2225-E2232. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1617655114

Emerging Approaches to Tuberculosis Drug Development: At Home in the Metabolome.
Jansen RS, Rhee KY.
Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2017 Apr;38(4):393-405. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2017.01.005.

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