Louis B. Rice, MD is the Joukowsky Family Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is also the Executive Chair of Medicine at Women and Infants Hospital and the Providence VA Medical Center. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. His research has been funded by NIH, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the pharmaceutical industry for the past 28 years.
The Rice laboratory has focused on investigating the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria for thirty years. Major areas of investigation have included the expression of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in Gram-negative bacteria, transferable multi-resistance in Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, the molecular epidemiology of enterococcal dissemination, and the influence of antibiotics on colonization by vancomycin-resistant E. faecium. More recently, the laboratory has focused on the expression of beta-lactam resistance in E. faecium and E. faecalis, with a specific emphasis on structure and function of penicillin-binding proteins and other proteins involve in the cell wall synthesis complex. Dr. Rice’s laboratory includes Senior Research Assistant Charlene Desbonnet and collaborates with junior faculty member Monica Garcia-Solache.
Keywords: Enterococci; Antimicrobial Resistance; Beta-lactam antibiotics; Penicillin-Binding Proteins
Key Publications:
Moon TM, D’Andréa ÉD, Lee CW, Soares A, Jakoncic J, Desbonnet C, Solache MG, Rice LB, Page R, Peti W. The structures of penicillin binding protein 4 (PBP4) and PBP5 from Enterococci provide structural insights into β-lactam resistance. J Biol Chem. 2018 Oct 24;PubMed PMID: 30355734.
Rice LB, Desbonnet C, Tait-Kamradt A, Garcia-Solache M, Lonks J, Moon TM, D’Andréa ÉD, Page R, Peti W. Structural and Regulatory Changes in PBP4 Trigger Decreased β-Lactam Susceptibility in Enterococcus faecalis. MBio. 2018 Apr 3;9(2)PubMed PMID: 29615500; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5885037.
Desbonnet C, Tait-Kamradt A, Garcia-Solache M, Dunman P, Coleman J, Arthur M, Rice LB. Involvement of the Eukaryote-Like Kinase-Phosphatase System and a Protein That Interacts with Penicillin-Binding Protein 5 in Emergence of Cephalosporin Resistance in Cephalosporin-Sensitive Class A Penicillin-Binding Protein Mutants in Enterococcus faecium. MBio. 2016 Apr 5;7(2):e02188-15. PubMed PMID: 27048803; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4959515.
García-Solache M, Lebreton F, McLaughlin RE, Whiteaker JD, Gilmore MS, Rice LB. Homologous Recombination within Large Chromosomal Regions Facilitates Acquisition of β-Lactam and Vancomycin Resistance in Enterococcus faecium. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2016 Oct;60(10):5777-86. PubMed PMID: 27431230; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5038250
Rice LB, Carias LL, Rudin S, Hutton R, Marshall S, Hassan M, Josseaume N, Dubost L, Marie A, Arthur M. Role of class A penicillin-binding proteins in the expression of β-lactam resistance in Enterococcus faecium. J Bacteriol. 2009 Jun;191(11):3649-56. PubMed PMID: 19304851; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2681891.
Rice LB. Federal funding for the study of antimicrobial resistance in nosocomial pathogens: no ESKAPE. J Infect Dis. 2008 Apr 15;197(8):1079-81. PubMed PMID: 18419525.
Carias LL, Rudin SD, Donskey CJ, Rice LB. Genetic linkage and cotransfer of a novel, vanB-containing transposon (Tn5382) and a low-affinity penicillin-binding protein 5 gene in a clinical vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolate. J Bacteriol. 1998 Sep;180(17):4426-34. PubMed PMID: 9721279; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC107451.
Rice LB, Eckstein EC, DeVente J, Shlaes DM. Ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates recovered at the Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Clin Infect Dis. 1996 Jul;23(1):118-24. PubMed PMID: 8816140.
Contact Information:
Curt G. Beckwith, MD
Associate Professor
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
The Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals
164 Summit Avenue
Center for AIDS Research Building
Providence, Rhode Island 02906
Phone: 401-793-4765
Email: CBeckwith@Lifespan.org
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