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Dr. Andrew J. Fabich

Associate Professor of Microbiology

Area

Faculty | School of STEM

Office Phone

706-865-2134, ext. 6407

Email

afabich@truett.edu

Location

Miller Hall 216

Website

http://andrewjfabich.wixsite.com/everything-e-coli
  • Ph.D., Microbiology, University of Oklahoma
  • B.S., Molecular Genetics, Ohio State University
  • Concepts of Biology
  • General Biology
  • Genetics
  • Microbiology
  • Capstone

The goal of Dr. Fabich’s research is to involve undergraduate students to help them better understand the molecular pathogenesis an dissemination of facultative anaerobes in the mouse intestine. They use the streptomycin-treated mouse model of colonization to better understand how commensal (good) E. coli reacts within a diverse intestinal microbial population.

The current research focus is investigating how laboratory, human commensal, and probiotic E. coli oscillate between motile and non-motile populations in the intestine. The other half of the research group focuses on how pathogenic (bad) E. coli colonize the intestine using the model organism Citrobacter rodentium.

Students at Truett McConnell University work with Dr. Fabich to elucidate the underlying mechanisms that commensal and pathogenic E. coli by genome sequencing of individual E. coli clones, 16S rDNA analysis of fecal genomic DNA by quantitative PCR, and metagenomics to identify significant effects from the neighboring bacteria that various E. coli encounter during colonization or pathogenesis. Students also work on understanding the inflammatory process that C. rodentium causes in conventional mice, which is absent in streptomycin-treated mice. We work at better understanding the underlying mechanisms of colonization to aid discovery of novel therapies that enhance commensal E. coli and prevent pathogenic E. coli.

  • ILLUMINATE Grant recipient from the Center for Teaching Excellence shared with 2 other faculty for the project “Unknown Microbes Unveiled”…”to help students quickly and accurately identify unknown microorganisms and bacteria with a high degree of specificity”. Spring 2014.
  • Donation given to the National Center for Science Education in my honor by former student, Wilbur (Keith) Mills, at the University of California, Berkeley. Spring 2014.
  • CGS Faculty Distinction Chair Award, Fall B 2013.
  • Corporate Activities Student Travel Grant Award, for poster titled “Streptomycin-treated cattle model for colonization by Escherichia coli O157:H7,” presented at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Atlanta, GA, June 2005 (AJF)
  • B.S., with honors
  • 2nd place in Undergraduate Research Colloquium of the College of Biological Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2001

Molecular Genetics Research Experience for Undergraduates, June-August 2001

  • American Society for Microbiology
  • Lenz A, Tomkins J, Fabich AJ. 2015. Draft Genome Sequence of Citrobacter rodentium DBS100 (ATCC 51459), a Primary Model of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Virulence. Genome Announcements, 3:3. p.1.
  • Fabich AJ, Leatham MP, Grissom JE, Wile G, Lai H, Najar F, Roe BA, Cohen PS, Conway T. 2011. Genotype and phenotypes of an intestine-adapted Escherichia coli K-12 mutant selected by animal passage for superior colonization. Infect. Immun. 2011 Mar 21. PMCID: PMC3125843
  • Snider TA, Fabich AJ, Conway T, Clickenbeard KD. 2009. E. coli O157:H7 catabolism of intestinal mucin-derived carbohydrates and colonization. Vet Microbiol. 2009 Apr 14;136(1-2):150-4.
  • Fabich AJ, Jones SA, Chowdhury FZ, Cernosek A, Anderson A, Smalley D, McHargue JW, Hightower GA, Smith JT, Autieri SM, Leatham MP, Lins JJ, Allen RL, Laux DC, Cohen PS, Conway T. 2008. Comparison of carbon nutrition for pathogenic and commensal Escherichia coli strains in the mouse intestine. Infect. Immun. 76(3):1143-52. PMCID: PMC2258830
  • Jones SA, Chowhury FZ, Fabich AJ, Anderson A, Schreiner DM, House AL, Autieri SM, Leatham MP, Lins JJ, Jorgensen M, Cohen PS, Conway T. 2007. Respiration of Escherichia coli in the mouse intestine. Infect. Immun. 75(10):4891-9 PMCID: PMC2044527
  • Snider TA, Fabich AJ, Washburn KD, Sims WP, Blair J, Cohen PS, Conway T, Clickenbeard KD. 2006. Evaluation of a model for Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonization in streptomycin-treated adult cattle Am. J. Vet. Res. 67(11):1914-20.
Image of staff member of Andrew Fabich

Biography

Dr. Andrew J. Fabich grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, OH before moving to Columbus, OH to finish high school and attend Ohio State. After finishing his undergraduate degree, he married his high school sweetheart and began graduate school. His first two children were born during graduate school just before he took a teaching job at Tennessee Temple University. While in Chattanooga, his other 2 children were born before joining the faculty at Liberty University in 2011. In the fall of 2016, Dr. Fabich joined the faculty at Truett McConnell University. Dr. Fabich did his dissertation on understanding how good and bad E. coli colonize the mammalian intestine to cause disease. He continues working on molecular pathogenesis and colonization of facultative anaerobes in the mammalian intestine.