Dr. Stephanie Rolsma is an assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Dr. Rolsma has experience in microbiology, vaccine development, and clinical research and her current research focuses on therapeutics and interventions in critically ill patients and clinical trials. Her primary research focuses on evaluating the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring of beta-lactam antibiotics in pediatric and adult patients, including cystic fibrosis patients and patients receiving intensive critical care. She also serves as a co-investigator in studies conducted through the NIH-funded Vanderbilt Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU), including Moderna and Janssen Phase 3 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials in adults, a Moderna Phase 2/3 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trial in children, a Moderna Phase 1 SARS-CoV-2 variant vaccine trial in adults, a study of infant immune responses to RSV, and an intranasal influenza vaccine in pediatric patients. As a co-investigator for the CDC-funded Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network she works to address safety issues and clinical adverse events following vaccinations.
Dr. Rolsma received her B.S. in Microbiology from Michigan State University. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she was a part of the Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
vaccine, vaccine safety, antibiotic pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, therapeutic drug monitoring
My primary research goal is to better understand antibiotic treatment failure during bacterial infections. Broadly speaking, antibiotic treatment failure refers to any undesirable outcome when treating an infection. Its causes are multifactorial, and they include a combination of both patient-specific (host-specific) factors and factors specific to the infecting bacteria (pathogen-specific). My research focuses on pathogen-driven mechanisms such as antibiotic resistance, antibiotic tolerance, and biofilm growth with additional interest in how these mechanisms occur within a host in the presence of an immune response. I am particularly interested in antibiotic treatment failure during Staphylococcus aureus infections. S. aureus is the most common bacterial cause of mortality in the United States and is associated with very high rates of antibiotic failure. Current research projects include 1) investigating the connection between amino acid metabolism in S. aureus and induction of antibiotic tolerance and 2) utilizing clinical S. aureus isolates to understand the connection between treatment failure, tolerance to combination antibiotic therapy, and daptomycin resistance. In addition to taking a translational approach by incorporating the study of clinical bacterial isolates, I am also using a combination of molecular biology, microbial genetics, immunology, and animal models to answer these questions. This research aims to not only better understand the mechanisms driving antibiotic treatment failure, but also to develop simple solutions to reverse it.
Antibiotic treatment failure, antibiotic tolerance, antibiotic resistance, Staphylococcus aureus, biofilms
Dr. Krishnendu (Krish) Roy received his B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, his M.S. from Boston University, and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. After two years in industry, Dr. Roy joined the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at The University of Texas at Austin in 2002, eventually becoming Professor and Fellow of the Cockrell Chair in Engineering Excellence. In 2013 he moved to Georgia Tech, where he was most recently a Regents Professor and the Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering. He also served as Director of three centers—the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT), The Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing (MC3M), and the Center for ImmunoEngineering. In August 2023, Dr. Roy joined Vanderbilt University as the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering and a University Distinguished Professor in Biomedical Engineering, and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, with a secondary appointment in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
In recognition of his seminal contributions, Dr. Roy has been elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and the Controlled Release Society (CRS). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Clemson Award for Basic Research from the Society for Biomaterials, the Industry Growth Award from Georgia Bio, Young Investigator Awards from the Controlled Release Society (CRS) and The Society for Biomaterials (SFB), the NSF CAREER award, etc. He has also received the Best Teacher Award from the Biomedical Engineering Students at UT-Austin and the Best Advisor Award from Bioengineering students at Georgia Tech. Dr. Roy serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Controlled Release, the Journal of Immunology and Regenerative Medicine, and the Journal of Advanced Biomanufacturing and Bioprocessing. He also serves as a board member of the Standards Coordinating Body for Regenerative Medicine and several other academic and industry advisory boards. Starting in August 2023, he co-chairs the Forum on Regenerative Medicine of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
The overall goal of our research endeavor is the development of new biomaterial-based strategies for: (a) the design and development of novel delivery systems for vaccines and immunotherapies against cancer and infectious diseases, (b) engineering complex microfluidics-based vascularized microenvironments to study the immune-homeostasis and immune-pathology in various organs and diseases, and (c) developing novel engineering tools and high throughput methods to manufacture therapeutic immune cells.
Regenerative Medicine