Faculty

MIRIAM BARLOW, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Natural Sciences

Email: mbarlow@ucmerced.edu
Phone: (209)228-4174
www: lab | personal

Education:

B.S. (Biology) University of Utah 1998
M.S. (Evolutionary Biology) University of Rochester 2001
Ph.D. (Evolutionary Biology) University of Rochester 2002

Research Interests (View)

The evolution of antibiotic resistance presents an enormous challenge to the healthcare and agricultural industries, because it make the drugs we rely upon to control infectious diseases unreliable. At the same time however, it provides an unprecedented opportunity to study evolution as it occurs. The research in my lab is focused on two major themes:

1. What does the evolution of antibiotic resistance tell us about evolutionary processes?
2. How does understanding evolution allow us to thwart the occurrence and spread of antibiotic resistance?

To be able to answer these questions, it has been necessary to develop new methods for accelerating evolution in the laboratory. The Barlow& Hall method for accelerating evolution in the laboratory has been experimentally shown as an accurate method for reproducing past evolution and has also accurately predicted the evolution of natural resistance genes. The GeneHunter tool is able to induce the expression of silent antibiotic resistance genes so that they can be detected prior to their appearances in human or agricultural populations.
The use of these tools enable us to know how antibiotic resistance will evolve in the future. My lab is now developing methods for using antibiotics that will prolong their useful lifetimes.
Representative Publications (View)

  1. Barlow, M. and Hall, B.G. 2002. Predicting Evolutionary Potential: In Vitro Evolution Accurately Reproduces Natural Evolution of the TEM b -Lactamase. Genetics 160: 823-832.
  2. Barlow, M. and Hall, B.G. 2002. Origin and Evolution of the ampC b -lactamases of Citrobacter freundii. Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy 46: 1190-1198.
  3. Barlow, M. and Hall, B.G. 2002. Phylogenetic Analysis Shows that the OXA b -lactamase Genes have been on Plasmids for Millions of Years. Journal of Molecular Evolution 55:314-321.
  4. Barlow, M. and Hall, B.G. 2003. Experimental Prediction of the Natural Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance. Genetics 163:1237-12341.
  5. Barlow, M. and Hall, B.G. 2003. Experimental Prediction of the Evolution of Cefepime Resistance from the CMY-2 AmpC b -lactamase. Genetics 164:23-29.
  6. Hall, B.G., Salipante, S. and Barlow, M. 2003 The Metallo- b -Lactamases Fall into Two Distinct Phylogenetic Groups. Journal of Molecular Evolution 57:249-254.
  7. Hall, B.G and Barlow, M. 2003 Structure Based Phylogenies of the Serine b -Lactamases. Journal of Molecular Evolution 57:255-260.
  8. Salipante, S.J., Barlow, M., and Hall, B.G. 2003 GeneHunter, a Transposon Tool for Identification and Isolation of Cryptic Antibiotic Resistance Genes. Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy 47:3840-3845.
  9. Hall, B.G., Salipante, S.J. and Barlow, M. 2004 Independent Origins of Subgroup Bl+B2 and Subgroup B3 Metallo- b -Lactamases. Journal of Molecular Evolution . 59:133–141
  10. Hall, B.G., and Barlow, M. 2004. Evolution of the Serine b -Lactamase s: Past, Present and Future. Drug Resistance Update 7:111-23.
  11. Welsh KJ, Barlow M, Tenover FC, Biddle JW, Rasheed JK, Clark LA, McGowan JE Jr. 2005. Experimental prediction of the evolution of ceftazidime resistance in the CTX-M-2 extended-spectrum b -lactamase. Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy 49:1242-1244
  12. Hall, B. G.. and Barlow, M. 2005 Revised Ambler Classification of the b -lacatamases. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 55:1050-1051
  13. Hujer KM, Hamza NS, Hujer AM, Perez F, Helfand MS, Bethel CR, Thomson JM, Anderson VE, Barlow M, Rice LB, Tenover FC, Bonomo RA. 2005. Identification of a new allelic variant of the Acinetobacter baumannii cephalosporinase, ADC-7 beta-lactamase: defining a unique family of class C enzymes. Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy 49:2941-8
  14. Hall BG, Barlow M. 2005 Phylogenetic Analysis as a Tool in Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. Annals of Epidemiology (In press)