Fatima Zaidi

Category A and B biothreat agents are deemed to be of great concern by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and include the bacteria Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis, Burkholderia mallei, and Brucella species. Underscored by the impact of the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, 2016 Zika pandemic, 2014 Ebola outbreak, 2001 anthrax letter attacks, and 1984 Rajneeshee Salmonella attacks, the threat of future epidemics/pandemics and/or terrorist/criminal use of pathogenic organisms warrants continued exploration and development of both classic and alternative methods of detecting biothreat agents. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) comprise a large and highly diverse group of carbon-based molecules, generally related by their volatility at ambient temperature. Recently, the diagnostic potential of VOCs has been realized, as correlations between the microbial VOC metabolome and specific bacterial pathogens have been identified. Herein, we describe the use of microbial VOC...

Studies have shown that excessive alcohol consumption impacts the intestinal microbiota composition, causing disruption of homeostasis (dysbiosis). However, this observed change is not indicative of the dysbiotic intestinal microbiota function that could result in the production of injurious and toxic products. Thus, knowledge of the effects of alcohol on the intestinal microbiota function and their metabolites is warranted, in order to better understand the role of the intestinal microbiota in alcohol associated organ failure. Here, we report the results of a differential metabolomic analysis comparing volatile organic compounds (VOC) detected in the stool of alcoholics and non-alcoholic healthy controls. We performed the analysis with fecal samples collected after passage as well as with samples collected directly from the sigmoid lumen. Regardless of the approach to fecal collection, we found a stool VOC metabolomic signature in alcoholics that is different from healthy controls....