• Skip to main content
  • Skip to main content
Choose which site to search.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Logo University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
College of Medicine: Department of Microbiology and Immunology
  • UAMS Health
  • Jobs
  • Giving
  • About
    • Campus, City, and State
    • Department News
    • Maps & Directions
  • Faculty
    • Primary Faculty
      • Daniel E. Voth, Ph.D.
      • Youssef Aachoui, Ph.D.
      • Jon Blevins, Ph.D.
      • Karl Boehme, Ph.D.
      • Martin Cannon, Ph.D.
      • Craig Forrest, Ph.D.
      • Lu Huang, Ph.D.
      • Lin-Xi Li, Ph.D.
      • Matthew Jorgenson, Ph.D.
      • Chia Lee, Ph.D.
      • Jia Liu, Ph.D.
      • Mark Manzano, Ph.D.
        • Manzano Lab
          • Team
          • Publications
          • Join Us
      • Roger Pechous, Ph.D.
      • Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D.
      • Jason Stumhofer, Ph.D.
      • Tiffany Weinkopff, Ph.D.
      • Xuming Zhang, Ph.D.
  • Staff
    • Administrative Staff
    • Postdoctoral Fellows
      • Amanda Dragan, Ph.D.
      • Changhoon Oh, Ph.D.
      • Shana Owens, Ph.D.
      • Gopinath Venugopal, Ph.D.
    • Research Staff
  • Graduate Program
    • Courses Offered
    • Graduate Students
  • Research Cores
    • Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses
    • DNA Sequencing Core Facility
      • Preparing Your Samples for Sumbission
      • Submitting Samples
      • Recommendations, Downloads, and Useful Links
      • TapeStation 4150
      • MiSeq (Illumina)
      • Covaris ME220
    • Flow Cytometry Core Facility
      • Training and Education
      • Protocols and Reagents
        • Immunofluorescence Staining for Immunotyping
        • Cell Cycle Staining using PI
        • Sorting and Staining Buffers
        • Lysing red blood cells
      • Sample Submission
        • Appointments and Pricing
        • Sample Preparation
      • Instruments
        • BD LSRFortessa
        • BD FACSAria IIIu
        • BD FACS Celesta
        • Cytek Northern Lights
        • ImageStreamX by Amnis
        • Hematology Analyzer-VETSCAN HM5
      • Data Analysis and Citation
    • Next Generation Sequencing
      • Small Genome Sequencing
      • 16S Metagenomics
      • RNA-Seq
    • iLab-External
    • iLab-UAMS
  • Resources
    • Arkansas Tick-Borne Pathogen Surveillance Program
    • Microbiology & Immunology Research Seminar
  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. College of Medicine
  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology
  4. Faculty
  5. Primary Faculty
  6. Chia Lee, Ph.D.

Chia Lee, Ph.D.

Chia Lee, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interest:  Pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus 
Ph.D.: Kansas State University
Postdoctoral: Kansas State University
Phone: 501-526-7687
Fax: 501-686-5359
Email: CLee2@uams.edu

Research Description

The long-term goal of this laboratory is to better understand the molecular mechanisms of staphylococcal pathogenesis. Staphylococci are a group of bacteria most commonly causing nosocomial infections, many of which are life-threatening. These bacteria are also excellent in adapting to their environments. As a result, the emergence of antibiotic resistance strains in response to antibiotic usage has caused serious problems for controlling staphylococcal infections. Among all staphylococci, S. aureus is the most virulent species. This organism is capable of producing a plethora of virulence factors reflecting its ability to cause a wide range of human and animal diseases ranging from superficial skin infections to debilitating systemic infections. These virulence factors have been shown to be highly regulated by a complex regulatory network. In our laboratory, we have specifically focused on understanding regulation of virulence factors. We have taken an approach in which we used capsule as a target virulence factor to study virulence regulation. As all regulators can be tied together with respect to one specific target, our approach has resulted in an integrated networking model. Capsule endows S. aureus the ability to evade the host immune system, but it also blocks bacterial surface molecules from interacting with host environment during infection. Capsule thus is highly regulated and more than 29 regulators have been shown to affect capsule production. Among the regulators are major regulators such as Agr, MgrA and Sae, as well as unconventional regulator such as ClpC. To date, we have constructed a capsule regulatory network with 18 regulators. Recently, we have extended our efforts to study regulation of a-toxin, a well-studied toxin in S. aureus. Our current efforts are directed toward studying regulatory networking in vivo and investigating detailed mechanisms of regulation. Current projects include ClpC regulation of Agr and SigB using structural biology and mutational analysis approaches, as well as virulence regulation by small RNA. In addition, our laboratory is involved in staphylococcal biofilm studies. The ability to form biofilm has been shown to be crucial for staphylococci in device-related infections and other diseases such as osteomyelitis and endocarditis. We are interested in studying how biofilm is regulated and the mechanism of biofilm formation.  

Recent Publications

  • M.G. Lei and C.Y. Lee. 2020. MgrA Activates Staphylococcal Capsule via SigA-Dependent Promoter. J Bacteriol. 203(2):e00495-20.
  • M. G. Lei, D. D. Gudeta and C. Y. Lee. 2019. MgrA negatively impacts Staphylococcus aureusinvasion by regulating capsule and FnbA. Infection and Immunity. 87:e00590-19. 
  • D. D. Gudeta, M. G. Lei and C. Y. Lee. 2019. Contribution of hla regulation by SaeR to S. aureusUSA300 pathogenesis. Infection and Immunity. 87:e00231-19.
  • M. G Lei and C. Y. Lee. 2018. Repression of capsule production by XdrA and CodY inStaphylococcus aureus. J. Bacteriol. 200(18):e00203-18. 
  • M. G. Lei*, R. K. Gupta*, and C. Y. Lee. 2017. Proteomics of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm matrix in a rat model of orthopedic implant-associated infection. PloS One, 12:e0187981 (*contribute equally).
  • R. K. Gupta, T. T. Luong, and C. Y. Lee. 2015. Staphylococcus aureus RNAIII activates transcriptional regulator MgrA by mRNA stabilization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112:14036-41. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509251112. PMID: 26504242
  • M. G. Lei and C. Y. Lee. 2015. RbsR activates capsule by represses rbsUDk operon in Staphylococcus aureus. J. Bacteriol. 197(23):3666-75. doi: 10.1128/JB.00640-15. PMID: 26350136.
UAMS College of Medicine LogoUAMS College of MedicineUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Mailing Address: 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: (501) 686-7000
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

© 2022 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences