Education

• B.S. : Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 1979-1983
• Ph.D. : Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley, 1989
• M.D. : Case Western Reserve University, 1992-1996
• Residency : Internal Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, 1996-1999
• Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, University Hospitals of Cleveland, 1999-2002

Research Interests

My laboratory is interested in resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and beta-lactamase inhibitors caused by a wide variety of beta-lactamase enzymes such as Class A beta-lactamases (SHV of Klebsiella pneumoniae; TEM of E. coli); Class C beta-lactamases (CMY-2 enzyme) and Class B metallo-beta-lactamases (VIM-2 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa). In addition, we are studying the basis of sulbactam as an antibiotic for Acinetobacter baumannii and the role of metallo-beta-lactamase like enzymes in biofilm formation by a variety of bacteria. We employ a variety of microbiologic, molecular biologic, epidemiologic and biophysical methods to study resistance phenomena where they occur in the hospital and the laboratory.

Selected References

• Drawz S. M., Bethel C. R., Doppalapudi V. R., Sheri A., Pagadala S. R., Hujer A. M., Skalweit M. J., Anderson V. E., Chen S. G., Buynak J. D., and Bonomo R. A. "Penicillin sulfone inhibitors of class D beta-lactamases" Antimicrob Agents Chemother 54 (4): 1414-24 (2010).
• Endimiani A., Doi Y., Bethel C. R., Taracila M., Adams-Haduch J. M., O'Keefe A., Hujer A. M., Paterson D. L., Skalweit M. J., Page M. G., Drawz S. M., and Bonomo R. A. "Enhancing resistance to cephalosporins in class C beta-lactamases: impact of Gly214Glu in CMY-2" Biochemistry 49 (5): 1014-23 (2010).
• Nixdorff N. A., Tang J., Mourad R., and Skalweit M. J. "SAME is different: a case report and literature review of Staphylococcus aureus metastatic endophthalmitis" South Med J 102 (9): 952-6 (2009).
• Bethel C. R., Distler A. M., Ruszczycky M. W., Carey M. P., Carey P. R., Hujer A. M., Taracila M., Helfand M. S., Thomson J. M., Kalp M., Anderson V. E., Leonard D. A., Hujer K. M., Abe T., Venkatesan A. M., Mansour T. S., and Bonomo R. A. "Inhibition of OXA-1 beta-lactamase by penems" Antimicrob Agents Chemother 52 (9): 3135-43 (2008).
• Helfand M. S., Taracila M. A., Totir M. A., Bonomo R. A., Buynak J. D., van den Akker F., and Carey P. R. "Raman crystallographic studies of the intermediates formed by Ser130Gly SHV, a beta-lactamase that confers resistance to clinical inhibitors" Biochemistry 46 (29): 8689-99 (2007).
• Miani A., Raugei S., Carloni P., and Helfand M. S. "Structure and Raman spectrum of clavulanic acid in aqueous solution" J Phys Chem B 111 (10): 2621-30 (2007).
• Totir M. A., Helfand M. S., Carey M. P., Sheri A., Buynak J. D., Bonomo R. A., and Carey P. R. "Sulbactam forms only minimal amounts of irreversible acrylate-enzyme with SHV-1 beta-lactamase" Biochemistry 46 (31): 8980-7 (2007).
• Bethel C. R., Hujer A. M., Hujer K. M., Thomson J. M., Ruszczycky M. W., Anderson V. E., Pusztai-Carey M., Taracila M., Helfand M. S., and Bonomo R. A. "Role of Asp104 in the SHV beta-lactamase" Antimicrob Agents Chemother 50 (12): 4124-31 (2006).
• Helfand M. S. and Bonomo R. A. "Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli: changing the therapy for hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections" Clin Infect Dis 43 (11): 1415-6 (2006).