The Stairs Lecture in Chemistry

The Stairs Lecture in Chemistry, the first endowed lecture series in Chemistry at Trent University, was created by Trent Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Stairs and his late wife, Sibyl. The biennial lecture series enables Trent to invite distinguished scientists to speak on their research and to showcase the field of Chemistry.

Traits that evolved in environmental bacteria can be critical in pathogens

Lindsay Eltis

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Microbial Catabolism and Biocatalysis

  • calendar iconThursday, March 27, 2025
  • time icon
  • TBD
  • location iconTBD

Lecture Abstract 

The vast majority of mycobacteria live in soil and other environments where they break down an astoundingly wide range of organic compounds. This ability plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. For example, bacteria are the only organisms known to degrade and grow on steroids, using them for carbon and energy. This talk will summarize our discovery of cholesterol degradation in an environmental bacterium, and how this helped us to understand the ability of two pernicious pathogens to survive in their human host. The first, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a leading cause of mortality from an infectious agent world-wide. The second, Mycobacterium abscessus, is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for non-tuberculous pulmonary infections often associated with cystic fibrosis patients. In our journey, we used a wide variety of techniques to elucidate the step-by-step process by which these bacteria break down cholesterol and steroids. We have also used chemical and genetic approaches to probe the degradation pathway as a target for novel therapeutics that are urgently needed to decrease the length, and improve the efficacy, of treatments.

About Lindsay Eltis

Eltis, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Microbial Catabolism and Biocatalysis is a world leader on bacterial enzymes and pathways responsible for the catabolism of aromatic compounds and steroids. Through >200 peer-reviewed publications, he has made seminal contributions to understanding the functions and catalytic mechanisms of key microbial enzymes, as well as the organization and regulation of bacterial catabolic pathways. Eltis helped identify the cholesterol catabolic pathway as a potential target to treat mycobacterial diseases and has ongoing collaborations to develop novel therapeutics targeting this pathway. He has also contributed to the development of microbial cell factories to valorize lignin. Over the course of his career, Eltis has secured research funding from CIHR, Canadian Lung association, CF Canada, NSERC, Genome BC and Canada, the US Department of Energy, and various industry partners.

For more information, contact communityspeakerseriers@trentu.ca