Dr. Price’s research will eventually lead to a better understanding of the human body’s microbial ecosystem and its relationship to our health. His translational goals are to develop rapid tests to diagnose microbial infections and to develop novel therapies to eliminate pathogenic microbes without disrupting the microbes critical to good health.

Dr. Price works with researchers at the Johns Hopkins University, the New York University, the University of Maryland, the University of Toronto, and the Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Integrated Health Systems, to characterize the bacteria and fungi that colonize body sites ranging from the genitalia to the middle ear and diseases ranging from chronic wounds to chronic sinus inflammation.

Dr. Price is also studying the sources and spread of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens. Over the past 70 years, antibiotics have been used to treat millions of people and save countless lives. Unfortunately, over the past few decades we have observed the emergence of bacterial pathogens that are resistant to many — sometimes all — of our clinically approved antibiotics. Dr. Price is using molecular tools to uncover the sources of antibiotic resistant bacteria and identify ways to interrupt the spread of these potentially deadly organisms.

Dr. Price is an Arizona native. He received his B.S. in Microbiology and M.S. in Biology from Northern Arizona University (NAU), where he led Anthrax and Plague research projects in Dr. Paul Keim’s molecular genetics laboratory. In 2000, Dr. Price moved to Baltimore and worked for a small biotech company before matriculating to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2003, Dr. Price became a Center for a Livable Future Pre-doctoral Fellow, characterizing public health risks associated with antibiotic use in industrial food-animal production. In 2006, Dr. Price completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science, before joining the research faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he worked with his colleagues to characterize the complex bacterial communities that colonize chronic wounds, before joining TGen.