June 2026 Awards and Accolades

Shelley Haydel

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Shelley Haydel recently received two new National Institutes of Health (NIH) research awards to advance innovative approaches for combating drug-resistant mycobacterial diseases. Together, the projects address critical challenges in diagnosing and treating infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium abscessus, two pathogens that pose significant and growing global public health threats.

The first award, "AI-enhanced LVSim2.0 technology for rapid phenotypic susceptibility testing of new and experimental TB drugs," supports the development of a next-generation diagnostic platform that combines advanced optical imaging with artificial intelligence to rapidly determine whether tuberculosis (TB) bacteria are susceptible or resistant to new and experimental antibiotics.

Current phenotypic drug susceptibility testing can take weeks to produce results, delaying appropriate therapy for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Haydel and her collaborators aim to develop a rapid, high-throughput system capable of accurately assessing bacterial drug susceptibility without relying on known genetic resistance markers. By significantly reducing the time needed to identify effective treatments, the technology could improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes while helping address one of the world's leading infectious diseases.

Haydel's second NIH award, "Engineering inducible morphotype switching control in Mycobacterium abscessus for investigating infection outcomes and discovering pathophysiological-targeted treatments," focuses on one of the most difficult bacterial infections to treat. Mycobacterium abscessus, often referred to by clinicians as the "antibiotic nightmare," is highly resistant to many available antibiotics and is an increasingly common cause of serious lung disease.

This project will develop innovative molecular tools that allow researchers to precisely control when the bacterium switches between two distinct forms associated with infection and disease progression. These new experimental models will enable scientists to better understand how each bacterial form interacts with the immune system, identify the mechanisms that drive severe disease, and uncover new targets for future therapies.

Together, these NIH-funded projects highlight Haydel's leadership in infectious disease research and her commitment to developing innovative technologies and therapeutic strategies to address antimicrobial resistance. The work has the potential to improve both the diagnosis and treatment of devastating mycobacterial infections while advancing scientific understanding of pathogens that continue to threaten global public health.