Nancy E. Freitag
Professor and Head, College of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professor, College of Medicine - Microbiology and Immunology
Contact
Address:
833 S. Wood St., Chicago, Illinois
Email:
Related Sites:
About
Overview:
I have more than 30 years of experience investigating pathogenic mechanisms of bacteria and the host response to infection with the goal of identifying new targets and strategies for therapeutics. Significant areas of my laboratory’s research have focused on understanding how the environmental bacterium Listeria monocytogenes transitions from a soil organism to an intracellular pathogen that is capable of establishing a replication niche within host cells. Our lab was also one of the first to identify isolates of L. monocytogenes that exhibit an enhanced capacity to target cardiac tissue and establish cardiac infections. Interestingly, these cardiotropic strains of L. monocytogenes are also enhanced for vertical transmission from infected mother to fetus. Fetal infection is an important and poorly understood aspect of L. monocytogenes, and the enhanced vertical transmission of these L. monocytogenes isolates gives us with an excellent opportunity to decipher how this bacterium gains access to the placenta and developing fetus. More recently, my lab is working to understand how exposure to drugs such as anesthetics can suppress host immunity to infection. Overall, I have extensive experience with animal models of microbial infection and in the characterization of host immune responses.
I have mentored young scientists in my lab at a variety of levels, from high school students and undergraduates to graduate students, technicians, postdoctoral scientists, MD fellows, visiting scientists and high school science teachers. I’ve directly mentored or am mentoring nine postdoctoral scientists, eighteen PhD graduate students, five MD/PhD students, twenty undergraduate students, seven high school students, three high school teachers, six technicians, one MD fellow, and five young visiting scientists from China, Egypt, or India. I have had the pleasure and privilege of mentoring a number of underrepresented minority scientists at different career stages, including four undergraduate students, five graduate students, one MSTP student, and two postdoctoral scientists. I am committed to doing all I can to support and promote deserving scientists in their endeavors while exploring fundamental problems in science.
Research Interests:
Research in the Freitag lab focuses on understanding how bacterial pathogens overcome barriers to infection to cause disease. We focus on infections caused by the environmental bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that lives in soil but has the capacity to invade and replicate within mammalian cells. We are working to identify bacterial factors that promote infection as well as the host defenses that limit the spread of microbial intruders. We are further interested in elucidating how exposure to drugs, such as sedatives, impacts host immunity to infection.
Teaching and Supervision
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PhD Thesis Research (MIM 599), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PDAT 4: Immunology/Respiratory (PHAR 504), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PDAT 4: Immunology/Respiratory (PHAR 504), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PDAT 4: Immunology/Respiratory (PHAR 504), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PDAT 4: Immunology/Respiratory (PHAR 504), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PDAT 4: Immunology/Respiratory (PHAR 504), 8/25/2025 – 12/5/2025
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 6/16/2025 – 8/8/2025
PhD Thesis Research (MIM 599), 5/19/2025 – 8/8/2025
Selected Grants
Antibiotics for K. pneumoniae targeting the essential bacterial enzyme peptide-tRNA hydrolase, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation., 1/1/2026 - 12/31/2028, No Obligated Amount Set; Anticipated Amount: $3040616
Role of arginine as a metabolic cue during enteric infection, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 8/5/2025 - 7/31/2027, Obligated Amount: $154052; Anticipated Amount: $308104
Deciphering mechanisms of Listeria placental-fetal invasion, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 6/1/2025 - 5/31/2027, Obligated Amount: $989468; Anticipated Amount: $989468
Determining the mechanism and impact of streptococcal RaS-RiPPs on the human oral microbiome, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research)., 8/1/2023 - 7/31/2024, Obligated Amount: $111701; Anticipated Amount: $223402
2022 International Conference on Gram Positive Pathogens, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 9/1/2022 - 8/31/2023, Obligated Amount: $7000; Anticipated Amount: $7000
Deciphering mechanisms of Listeria placental-fetal invasion, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 6/15/2022 - 5/31/2025, Obligated Amount: $1450889; Anticipated Amount: $2440357
Deciphering the impact of sedative choice on the dynamics of Klebsiella pneumoniae lung infection, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 11/16/2021 - 10/31/2023, Obligated Amount: $449200; Anticipated Amount: $449200
Deciphering mechanisms of Listeria placental-fetal invasion, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 7/14/2021 - 6/30/2022, Obligated Amount: $391795; Anticipated Amount: $391795
Role of Regulatory T Cells in Preventing Autoimmunity during Infection, Chicago Biomedical Consortium., 9/1/2019 - 8/31/2021, Obligated Amount: $80000; Anticipated Amount: $80000
Selected Publications
George, Jada L, Cabo, Leah F, Boyle, Jon P, Freitag, Nancy E, Cahoon, Laty A. (2026). The roles of the Listeria monocytogenes post-translocation chaperones PrsA1 and PrsA2 in protein secretion and stress resistance. Journal of Bacteriology, 208, (1), e00531-e00525. doi:10.1128/jb.00531-25.
Alejandro-Navarreto, Xiomarie, Cahoon, Laty A, Freitag, Nancy E. (2025). Characterization of the Listeria monocytogenes PieRS regulon distinguishes the function of the critical secretion chaperone PrsA2 from other regulon members. Infection and Immunity, 93, (7), e00357-e00324. doi:10.1128/iai.00357-24.
Klawon, David EJ, Pagane, Nicole, Walker, Matthew T, Ganci, Nicole K, Miller, Christine H, Gai, Eric, Rodriguez, Donald M, Ryan-Payseur, Bridgett K, Duncombe, Ryan K, Adams, Erin J, Maienschein-Cline, Mark, Freitag, Nancy E, Germain, Ronald N, Wong, Harikesh S, Savage, Peter A. (2025). Regulatory T cells constrain T cells of shared specificity to enforce tolerance during infection. Science, 387, (6740), eadk3248. doi:10.1126/science.adk3248.
Mckinney, Jeffrey, Freitag, Nancy Elizabeth. (2025). 14 Listeriosis. Remington and Klein’s Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant. (pp. 379-394.e6). Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-79525-8.00023-8.
Woo, Jerry KK, Zimnicka, Adriana M, Federle, Michael J, Freitag, Nancy E. (2024). Novel motif associated with carbon catabolite repression in two major Gram-positive pathogen virulence regulatory proteins. Microbiology Spectrum, 12, (11), e00485-e00424. doi:10.1128/spectrum.00485-24.
Chowdhury, QM Monzur Kader, Islam, Shamima, Narayanan, Lakshmi, Ogunleye, Seto C, Wang, Shangshang, Thu, Dinh, Freitag, Nancy E, Lawrence, Mark L, Abdelhamed, Hossam. (2024). An insight into the role of branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase (BKD) complex in branched-chain fatty acid biosynthesis and virulence of Listeria monocytogenes. Journal of Bacteriology, 206, (7), e00033-e00024. doi:10.1128/jb.00033-24.
Agbavor, Charles, Zimnicka, Adriana, Kumar, Allison, George, Jada L, Torres, Madeline, Prehna, Gerd, Alonzo, Francis, Durrant, Jacob D, Freitag, Nancy E, Cahoon, Laty A. (2024). The chaperone PrsA2 regulates the secretion, stability, and folding of listeriolysin O during Listeria monocytogenes infection. mBio, 15, (7), e00743-e00724. doi:10.1128/mbio.00743-24.
Alejandro-Navarreto, Xiomarie, Freitag, Nancy E. (2024). Revisiting old friends: updates on the role of two-component signaling systems in Listeria monocytogenes survival and pathogenesis. Infection and Immunity, 92, (4), e00345-e00323. doi:10.1128/iai.00345-23.
Mckinney, J, Freitag, NE. (2024). Listeriosis. Remington and Klein S Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant Ninth Edition. (pp. 379-394.e6). doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-79525-8.00023-8.
Professional Leadership
University of Washington Academic Program Review, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1/4/2024 - 2/4/2024
American Society for Microbiology Subcommittee for Career Development, American Society for Microbiology, 1/9/2023 - 6/30/2026
American Academy of Microbiology Election Committee, American Soceity of Microbiology, 5/1/2017 - 7/1/2021
American Academy of Microbiologists Elections Committee, American Academy of Microbiologists, 2017 - 2021
Scientific Review Board, 2015 - 2018
International Conference on Gram Positive Pathogens Organizing Committee, 10/2012 - 10/2012
General Meeting, American Society for Microbiology, 5/2011 - 5/2011
Notable Honors
2017, Bridge to the Doctorate Faculty Mentor of the Year, University of Illinois at Chicago
2017, M2 Medical Student Golden Apple Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
2017, Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellow,
2017, University Scholar, University of Illinois at Chicago
2016, Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
2015, Medical Student Class of 2015 selected Faculty Graduation Hooder, University of Illinois at Chicago
2014, Faculty of the Year Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
2014, M2 Medical Student Golden Apple Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
2013, M2 Medical Student Golden Apple Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
Education
Degrees:
Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles, United States, 1989
B.S., University of California, Irvine, United States, 1984