Titled “Attacking Failure of Antibiotic Treatment by Targeting Antimicrobial Resistance Enabler Cell-States,” professor of biology Edward Geisinger writes that “This project aims to uncover the genetic mechanisms that underlie antibiotic treatment failure in hospital-acquired bacterial infections. We will analyze ‘enabler’ mutations and phenotypes that promote antibiotic tolerance and act as stepping stones for the development of antibiotic resistance and treatment failure. A major focus is the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, which causes hospital-acquired diseases including pneumonia and sepsis that have become increasingly difficult to treat.”