Bacterial Pathogenesis and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit
Augusto Dulanto Chiang, M.D. (He/Him/His)
Assistant Research Physician
Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.
Specialty(s): Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine Provides direct clinical care to patients at NIH Clinical Center
Major Areas of Research
- Antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other gram-negative bacteria
- Microbial genomics and genomic epidemiology
- Within-host pathogen evolution in immunocompromised hosts
Program Description
Patients chronically infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are often found to harbor bacterial subpopulations with increased spontaneous mutation rates, so called hypermutators. In certain clinical contexts, hypermutation may facilitate the development of multidrug resistance, and is thus of significant concern. Dr. Dulanto Chiang’s research in the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit focuses on understanding the evolution and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in these hypermutators with a specific interest in novel resistance mechanisms. These questions are investigated with a combination of in vitro adaptive evolution, genetic engineering, genomic sequencing, gene expression analysis with RNA-seq, and studies of clinical isolates. This work aims to reveal unappreciated contributors to resistance to last-line antibiotics, with implications for clinical treatment of P. aeruginosa infections.
Biography
Education
Infectious Diseases Fellowship and Advanced Infectious Diseases and Genomics Fellowship, 2019, NIAID
Internal Medicine Residency, Washington Hospital Center
M.D., 2011, Cayetano Heredia University, Lima
Languages Spoken
SpanishDr. Dulanto Chiang obtained his M.D. in 2011 from the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru, after which he completed an internal medicine residency at Washington Hospital Center followed by an Infectious Diseases Fellowship and Advanced Infectious Diseases and Genomics Fellowship at NIAID. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He joined the BPARU as Staff Clinician in 2019, where he undertook an ongoing large scale genomic and transcriptomic project in the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Dr. Dulanto Chiang is also a member of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology Editorial Board and practices as an attending physician in the NIAID Infectious Diseases consults service at the NIH Clinical Center. He is a faculty member of the ACGME accredited NIAID Infectious Diseases Fellowship training program where he helps teach and mentor the next generation of Infectious Diseases physicians. In 2021 he was recognized with an NIH Director’s group award for his role on the COVID-19 Outbreak Response Team.
Selected Publications
Launay A, Wu CJ, Dulanto Chiang A, Youn JH, Khil PP, Dekker JP. In vivo evolution of an emerging zoonotic bacterial pathogen in an immunocompromised human host. Nat Commun. 2021 Jul 23;12(1):4495.
Manion M, Dulanto Chiang A, Pei L, Wong CS, Khil P, Hammoud DA, Anderson M, Laidlaw E, Kuriakose S, Lisco A; NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Zelazny AM, Dekker JP, Sereti I. Disseminated Mycobacterium marinum in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Unmasked by Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome. J Infect Dis. 2021 Aug 2;224(3):453-457.
Dulanto Chiang A, Dekker JP. From the Pipeline to the Bedside: Advances and Challenges in Clinical Metagenomics. J Infect Dis. 2020 Mar 28;221(Suppl 3):S331-S340.
Khil PP, Dulanto Chiang A, Ho J, Youn JH, Lemon JK, Gea-Banacloche J, Frank KM, Parta M, Bonomo RA, Dekker JP. Dynamic Emergence of Mismatch Repair Deficiency Facilitates Rapid Evolution of Ceftazidime-Avibactam Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Acute Infection. mBio. 2019 Sep 17;10(5):e01822-19.