Nicholas Dillon

Assistant Professor - Biological Sciences

ORCID

Professional Preparation

Postdoctoral training - Host-Pathogen interactions
University of California- San Diego - 2021

Ph.D. - Microbiology
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - 2017

M.S. - Biology
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - 2011

B.S. - Biochemistry
University of Wisconsin- Madison - 2005

Research Areas

Antibiotic Resistance

Since the 1928 discovery of penicillin, the antibiotic era revolutionized the practice of modern medicine, decreasing morbidity and mortality the world over. Unfortunately, rapid evolution of antibiotic resistance (AR), combined with a failing drug discovery pipeline, threatens a post-antibiotic era in which common bacterial infections are once again fatal. The goals of the Dillon lab are therefore to identify, assess, and mechanistically understand antibiotic interactions to design new therapeutical regimens for leading AR bacterial pathogens. We focus on targeting AR pathogens through uncovering novel synergistic antibiotic interactions, understanding the genetic basis for AR, and developing therapies to counter the evolution of AR. We utilize in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models of infection to study AR.

Publications

Pyrazinamide Susceptibility Is Driven by Activation of the SigE-Dependent Cell Envelope Stress Response in Mycobacterium tuberculosis 2022 - Journal Article

Identifying the effect of vancomycin on health care–associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains using bacteriological and physiological media 2021 - Journal Article

Machine Learning of Bacterial Transcriptomes Reveals Responses Underlying Differential Antibiotic Susceptibility 2021 - Journal Article

Bicarbonate modulates delafloxacin activity against MDR Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 2021 - Journal Article

Structure-Aware Mycobacterium tuberculosis Functional Annotation Uncloaks Resistance, Metabolic, and Virulence Genes 2021 - Journal Article

Genetic determinants enabling medium-dependent adaptation to nafcillin in methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus 2020 - Journal Article

An Irreversible Inhibitor to Probe the Role of Streptococcus pyogenes Cysteine Protease SpeB in Evasion of Host Complement Defenses 2020 - Journal Article

The bewildering antitubercular action of pyrazinamide 2020 - Journal Article

Awards

2021 Royal Society of Chemistry's Organic Division Horizon Prize: Robert Robinson Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry - Royal Society of Chemistry [2021]

Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship in Developing Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology for the Advancement of Therapeutics - NIH [2020]

News Articles

Meet the Newest Group of Tenured, Tenure-Track Faculty at UT Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas welcomed 25 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members in 2021, with many of them joining the University this fall.