Feng Cao, PhD

Saint Louis University (SLU)

Her primary duties are as a clinical microbiologist for the VA hospital. She has assembled a large set of pathogenic bacteria from VA patients that have well-characterized drug resistance patterns and has established rapid, standardized screening assays for each of these bacterial species.
Cao also performs indirect screening on the multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria to search for the antibiotic adjuvants, i.e. resistance breakers (such as efflux pump inhibitors, uptake enhancers). The location of her research lab in the John Cochran VA hospital campus, next to VA clinical microbiology lab, provides convenient access to clinical specimens from veterans. She welcomes collaborative research, especially projects on infectious diseases of military importance.