Deborah Chance, PhD

Deborah Chance is an Assistant Research Professor in the School of Medicine (SOM) in Molecular Microbiology & Immunology with joint appointment in Pediatrics. Dr. Chance collaborates with the College of Agriculture Regarding research dedicated, largely, to cystic fibrosis and cancer research. Her research emphases include researching better understanding of co-colonizing respiratory opportunistic pathogens and their survival tactics. This research is intended to help define new therapeutic strategies for chronic airway infections. Dr. Chance is involved in developing model systems in-house assessing the effects of bacterial products, and treatments targeting bacteria, on eukaryotic cells. She is also testing the effect of nutraceuticals, simple sugars, and other small molecules, in particular ones such as from essential oils, in providing antimicrobial or anti-virulence activities. Dr. Chance researches how these activities can be harnessed and used in new treatments of complex CF airway infections. Using clinically-minded basic research, often with patient specimens, she applies analytical, biochemical, molecular, microbiological, instrumental, and interdisciplinary skills to establish in vitro methods. These methods allow Dr. Chance to study the data from clinical situations encountered by patients and physicians when addressing chronic infection and its treatment in cystic fibrosis.