Shuaiqi (Phil) Guo receives CIHR Fellowship

Shuaiqi (Phil) Guo
June 3, 2021

Shuaiqi (Phil) Guo, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Liu Lab and member of the Microbial Sciences Institute, has received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship.

The CIHR Fellowship “aims to equip research trainees so that they emerge from their training as scientific, professional, or organizational leaders within and beyond the health research enterprise”.  The fellowship provides a maximum of three years of support, including a $45,000 annual stipend and $5,000 research allowance.

With the award, Dr. Guo will investigate how diverse pathogenic bacteria use long cell-surface filaments called the type IV pili (T4P) to sense contact with surfaces and to initiate infections. He will use the advanced imaging technique cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to reveal the intact architectures of two evolutionarily distinct types of T4P nano-machines directly within the cell envelopes of the significant human pathogen P. aeruginosa and model species Caulobacter crescentus. By comparing structures of the wild-type T4P nanomachines, he will visualize the T4P motor complexes in their extension and retraction states at unprecedented resolution. These data will not only reveal the exact positions and roles of individual T4P components but also answer the key question: how does the T4P filament extend and retract? Since mutations in the T4P motor components impair the virulence of bacterial pathogens, results from this work may serve as a guide for the rational design of new therapeutics that can combat infections without encouraging the development of resistance. 

Dr. Guo received his PhD in Biochemistry from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada and joined the Liu lab at Yale in 2020. His research interests include drug resistance, microbial pathogenesis, molecular biology, molecular structure, and cryoelectron microscopy. Please also view Dr. Guo’s research publications.