CCU Disease Hunters

What is the broad research goal of this team?

Humanity is besieged with the constant onslaught of bacteria, parasites, and viruses daily. We have witnessed outbreaks of salmonella that have bedeviled our food supply; hospitals are constantly plagued with Staphylococcus infections that are resistant to antibiotics, and in one national park over 10,000 people were potentially infected by hantavirus. The best form of protection is developing a system to alert you to any disease threats before you even get infected. Dr. Richardson’s research is focused on looking at novel means to detect diseases that plague our community. 

Currently, there are three research projects in his laboratory.  The HPV project is developing a genomic-based test to detect the presence of the virus and determine behaviors that are related to its presence in our community.  The environmental bacteriophage project wants to isolate and purify naturally occurring bacteriophages in our water to study their ability to control bacterial blooms and ecological diversity. The Heartworm project is monitoring heartworm in our community by collecting mosquitoes and detecting the parasites that live inside them.  More details can be found by visiting https://professorrichardsonresearch.com/.

What skills and experience will team members gain? 

Develop team research collaborations, and learn the research process to isolate and purify viruses from our community safely and efficiently. You will also develop technical skills to detect the genomic signature of those diseases that plague humanity. Ultimately, you will present your research at conferences or publish it in scientific journals. To date, my research students have had 17 oral talks, 75 poster presentations, 12 research awards, and nine publications from their dedicated achievements. 

Majors and degree programs that are a good fit:

All majors are welcome, but we do ask that applicants have a determination and curiosity to eradicate diseases.

Course and registration information:

Paul E. Richardson, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Chair of Chemistry.   
Email: prichar@coastal.edu

Contact the professor in charge to register. 

All people who do research must sign up for Chem 499 06 Disease Research. The credits depend on the student’s needs. 1 credit = 50 hours per semester. We also do Honor credits for those who need it, including honors thesis.