Nizet Lab People: Nicholas Dillon

Nicholas Dillon, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

	Nick Dillon grew up in WI and received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he worked for Upsher-Smith pharmaceuticals as an associate chemist and in the Microbiology Teaching Laboratory at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Medical School. Nick earned a master’s in microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Dunny studying the environmental survival strategies of pathogenic Enterococcus faecalis. His master’s work demonstrated that nutrient influx, from either natural or contamination sources, can permit the growth of human derived E. faecalis strains in the environment. He was supported during his master’s work by the Reagents Scholarship Program through the University of Minnesota. Nick’s doctoral dissertation was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Anthony Baughn. His thesis work focused on understanding the mechanistic basis for the activity of pyrazinamide, a first line drug for the treatment of tuberculosis, against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Throughout his thesis work he identified novel pyrazinamide resistance conferring mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, metabolic mechanisms of pyrazinamide resistance, and synergistic interactions between the innate host response and pyrazinamide. Nick was supported in his Ph.D. work by a NIH Institutional National Service Award (T32) through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and he was a 2017 University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellow.
As a postdoctoral fellow in the Nizet lab, Nick is continuing to explore synergistic interactions between antibiotics and the host immunological environment. He is also studying the evolution of antibiotic resistance in the context of host immunity, and is pursuing counter-resistance therapeutic interventions to combat multi-drug resistant infections.