Elizabeth Burgener, MD
Elizabeth B. Burgener, MD, is a pediatric pulmonologist and physician scientist. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at Keck School of Medicine at USC. She is also Associate Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Development Center for CHLA. At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles she cares for patients with pulmonary disease such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other systemic illnesses that affect pulmonary health. In her laboratory she conducts translational research focused on chronic airway infection. Her work is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health as well as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She is interested in understanding the interaction of bacteriophage and antibiotic resistance in chronic bacterial airway infections. She seeks to bring new therapies to individuals with chronic airway infections.
Cystic fibrosis
Bronchiectasis
Chronic airway infection
Bacteriophage therapy
Education
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Stanford University School of Medicine, Pediatrics
Stanford University School of Medicine, Pediatrics
Stanford University School of Medicine, Pediatric Pulmonology
Accomplishments
American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics
American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatric Pulmonology
Alpha Omega Alpha
Society for Pediatric Research, Junior Member
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Thoracic Society
Harry Shwachman Award, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2020
Parker B Francis Fellowship, Francis Foundation, 2018
Cystic Fibrosis Research Innovation Award, Vertex, 2019
Best in Clinical Research, Respiratory Diseases Young Investigator Forum, 2018
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
National Institutes of Health, NHLBI
Publications
Delivering a New Future for People With Cystic Fibrosis Pediatrics. 2023 Sep 06. View in PubMed
Bacteriophage and Bacterial Susceptibility, Resistance, and Tolerance to Antibiotics Pharmaceutics. 2022 Jul 07; 14(7). View in PubMed
Biochemical, Biophysical, and Immunological Characterization of Respiratory Secretions in Severe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infections medRxiv. 2022 Apr 04. View in PubMed
Filamentous bacteriophage delays healing of Pseudomonas-infected wounds Cell Rep Med. 2022 06 21; 3(6):100656. View in PubMed
Oral hymecromone decreases hyaluronan in human study participants J Clin Invest. 2022 05 02; 132(9). View in PubMed
Biochemical, biophysical, and immunological characterization of respiratory secretions in severe SARS-CoV-2 infections JCI Insight. 2022 06 22; 7(12). View in PubMed
Biochemical and Biophysical Characterization of Respiratory Secretions in Severe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infections medRxiv. 2021 Aug 19. View in PubMed
Filamentous Bacteriophages and the Competitive Interaction between Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains under Antibiotic Treatment: a Modeling Study mSystems. 2021 Jun 29; 6(3):e0019321. View in PubMed
Dynamic light scattering microrheology for soft and living materials Soft Matter. 2021 Feb 21; 17(7):1929-1939. View in PubMed
The Safety and Toxicity of Phage Therapy: A Review of Animal and Clinical Studies Viruses. 2021 06 29; 13(7). View in PubMed
Area under the curve achievement of once daily tobramycin in children with cystic fibrosis during clinical care Pediatr Pulmonol. 2020 12; 55(12):3343-3350. View in PubMed
Methods for Extraction and Detection of Pf Bacteriophage DNA from the Sputum of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Phage (New Rochelle). 2020 06 01; 1(2):100-108. View in PubMed
Pf Bacteriophage and Their Impact on Pseudomonas Virulence, Mammalian Immunity, and Chronic Infections Front Immunol. 2020; 11:244. View in PubMed
Filamentous bacteriophages are associated with chronic Pseudomonas lung infections and antibiotic resistance in cystic fibrosis Sci Transl Med. 2019 04 17; 11(488). View in PubMed
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulators: precision medicine in cystic fibrosis Curr Opin Pediatr. 2018 06; 30(3):372-377. View in PubMed
Teaching High-Value Care in Pediatrics: A National Survey of Current Practices and Guide for Future Curriculum Development J Grad Med Educ. 2017 Dec; 9(6):741-747. View in PubMed
Clinical characteristics and outcomes of pediatric patients with CMV DNA detection in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid Pediatr Pulmonol. 2017 01; 52(1):112-118. View in PubMed
Molecular and Culture-Based Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Testing for the Diagnosis of Cytomegalovirus Pneumonitis Open Forum Infect Dis. 2016 Jan; 3(1):ofv212. View in PubMed
Index of suspicion Pediatr Rev. 2014 Oct; 35(10):439-46. View in PubMed
Research
Dr. Burgener runs a translational research program focused on bringing new therapies to individuals with chronic airway infections. Her work has focused on Pseudomonas infection in the cystic fibrosis (CF) airway. Cystic fibrosis is characterized by thickened respiratory secretions that predisposes individuals to chronic airway infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common organism cultured from CF sputum. Chronic Pseudomonas infection in CF is associated with decline in lung function and increased mortality. Dr. Burgener identified that Pf bacteriophage of Pseudomonas, a virus that infects and lives within the bacteria without killing it, can be present in Pseudomonas infections in the CF airway. When Pf phage is present it is associated with worse outcomes in individuals with CF. She has ongoing projects in the laboratory and in the clinic evaluating the role of bacteriophage in chronic infection, antimicrobial resistance and interplay of co-infections within in the airway. She has a respiratory specimen biorepository consisting of both airway secretions and bacterial isolates.
Research Focus
Chronic airway infection
Cystic fibrosis
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Antimicrobial resistance
Bacteriophage
Funding Sources
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
National Institutes of Health, NHLBI
Lab Members
Elizabeth Burgener, MD – Principal Investigator
Paula Hsu, MS – Research Specialist
CF Clinical Research Team
Martha McKinney, MD – Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Development Center for CHLA
Carmen Del Reyes, NP – Clinical Research Coordinator
Esme Mason, RN – Clinical Research Coordinator
Daniel Quevedo, LVN – Clinical Research Coordinator
