John C. Vitucci, PhD
My work as the Preclinical Branch Head for the Combat Wound Infections Division (CWID) has granted me a dynamic environment to lead a highly motivated team in downstream in vivo development and screening of novel antimicrobial therapeutics.
CWID focuses our research against soft-skin and tissue infections and sepsis induced by the bacteria S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae, and Streptococcus sp. My work focuses on expanding and refining CWID's in vivo preclinical pipeline through novel model development, design and execution of studies to determine optimal formulations, dosing concentrations and regimens of potential therapeutics.
Additionally, I am a Principal Investigator on multiple grants that will test various antimicrobials or novel dynamic therapeutic delivery systems in collaboration with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, Universities, and/or intramural collaborators. CWID's mission and my research aims to support our collaborators through preclinical and early-stage clinical testing, with the ultimate goal of developing products for both military and general civilian use.
| Vitucci, J.C., Pulse, M., Tabor-Simecka, L. et al. Epidemic ribotypes of Clostridium (now Clostridioides) difficile are likely to bemore virulent than non-epidemic ribotypes in animal models. BMC Microbiol 20, 27 (2020). |
| Vitucci, J.C., Pulse. M., Simecka, J. Clostridium (Now Clostridioides) difficile spore formation is higher in epidemic isolates whenthreated with Vancomycin in vivo and in vitro. Arch Microbiol Immunology. 2019; 3(4). |
| Simecka, J., Fulda, K., Pulse, M., Nguyen, P., Lee, J., Vitucci, J.C., Sharma, S., Taylor, P., Jenkins, K. Primary care clinics can be asignificant source of exposure to virulent Clostridium difficile: An environmental screening study of hospitals and clinics in Dallas-Fort Worth region. P |
Area of Research
Sites
Naval Medical Research Command