Professor of Microbiology
South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, UTSA
Klose received his Ph.D. in microbiology at the University of California Berkeley in 1993, and performed postdoctoral studies in microbial pathogenesis at Harvard Medical School, prior to being hired as an assistant professor in the department of microbiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (UTHSCSA).
Klose moved to UTSA in 2004 and is the founder of the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, which consists of 18 infectious disease laboratories. Klose’s research focuses on understanding bacterial pathogenesis in order to develop effective vaccines and therapeutics. Klose has authored more than 84 peer-reviewed publications and has received funding from numerous sources. He has mentored many Ph.D., Master’s, and undergraduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows and international visiting students. He has participated in numerous NIH study sections, was the president of the Texas Branch of the American Society for Microbiology from 2001 to 2003 and has been an organizer of multiple national and international meetings.
He has twice been a recipient of ASM Visiting Professorships. He received the 2002 Presidential Junior Research Scholar award at UTHSCSA and the 2009 President’s Distinguished Research Achievement Award at UTSA.
TEDx Talk
What’s bugging us? Antibiotic resistant bacteria!
Antibiotics are miracle drugs that have saved millions of lives from bacterial infections. But bacteria have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. We are now running out of drugs to treat common infections. Understanding how bacteria cause disease, how antibiotics work, and how bacteria become resistant to these drugs is critical in the fight against infectious diseases.
Bacteria are amazing organisms that have a variety of strategies to cause disease, but most bacterial diseases can be treated effectively with antibiotics. Yet bacteria can rapidly convert to become antibiotic resistant when they are in the constant presence of antibiotics, such as in hospitals. If the fight against bacterial infections is viewed as a war against an ever-changing foe, the best strategy is to constantly develop new “weapons”. Robust and innovative research to discover new antibiotics, in addition to careful use of existing antibiotics, will help us maintain the upper hand in the fight against microbes
Email: Karl.Klose@utsa.edu