Biography

Joyce de Azavedo is an Associate Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Research Scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital and Director of the Toronto Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation (ToCARE). Dr. de Azavedo obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the Department of Microbiology at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Following a research fellowship at the Pasteur Institute, France, she worked in the Vaccine Research section of the Wellcome Research Laboratories, England and also at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital. Her interests and background include the molecular study of Gram-positive bacterial virulence determinants and antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Recent studies include the development of a novel murine pneumonia model for the investigation of drug efficacy and emergence of resistance and identification of novel virulence determinants in Group A Streptococcus and Streptococcus iniae. characterization of  using a novel characterization of virulence. 

Dr. de Azavedo has presented her work at numerous  national and international conferences, and has published several papers in high-impact peer-reviewed infectious diseases journals including Infection and Immunity, Molecular Microbiology, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, New England Journal of Medicine and Clinical Infectious Diseases. She has also has written a review article on Fluoroquinolone Resistance and a book chapter on Streptolysin S. She is a reviewer for the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Clinical Microbiology and an occasional reviewer for Infection and Immunity. Dr. de Azavedo has held or is currently holding research grants from Bayer, Sanofi–Aventis, Oscient, Merck Frosst, Ortho-McNeil, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, GlaxoSmithkline and the Centers for Disease Control.

Recent Publications

• Gershon A.S, de Azavedo J.C.S, McGeer A, Ostrowska K.I, Church D, Hoban D.J, Harding G.K.M, Weiss K, Abbott L, Smaill F, Gourdeau M, Murray G, Low D.E for the Canadian Bacterial Surveillance Network. (2002). Activities of New Fluoroquinolones, Ketolides, and Other Antimicrobials Against Blood Culture Isolates of Viridans Group Streptococci from Across Canada, 2000. Antimicrob.Ag.Chemother. 46: 1553-1556.
• Fuller J.D., Camus A.C., Duncan C.L., Nizet V., Bast D.J., Thune R.L., Low D.E., de Azavedo J. (2002). Identification of a Streptolysin S-Associated Gene cluster and its Role in the Pathogenesis of S.iniae Disease. Infect. Immun. 70: 5730-5739 (2002)
• Lim S., Bast D.J., McGeer A., de Azavedo J.C.S., Low D.E. (2003). Antimicrobial susceptibility breakpoints and first-step parC mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae: redefining fluoroquinolone resistance. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 9: 833-837.
• Katz KC, McGeer AJ, Duncan CL, Ashi-Sulaiman A, Willey BM, Sarabia A, McCann J, Pong-Porter S, Rzayev Y, de Azavedo JS, Low DE. (2003). Emergence of macrolide resistance in throat culture isolates of Group A Streptococci in Ontario, Canada, in 2001.
  Antimicrob. Ag. Chemother.47:2370-2.
• Lee JH, Del Sorbo L, Khine AA, De Azavedo J, Low DE, Bell D, Uhlig S, Slutsky AS, Zhang H. (2003). Modulation of bacterial growth by TNF-{alpha} in vitro and in vivo. Am J Respir. Crit. Care Med.168: 1462-70.
• Bast D.J., Yue M., Chen X., Bell D., Dresser L., Saskin R., Mandell L.A., Low D.E. and de Azavedo J.C.S. A novel murine model of pneumococcal pneumonia: Use of temperature as a measure of disease severity to compare the efficacy of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin. Antimicrob.Ag.Chemother. 48: 3343-3348.
• Bast D.J. Athamna A., Duncan C., de Azavedo J.C.S., Low D.E., Rahav G. , Farrell D. and Rubenstein E. Type II topoisomerase mutations in Bacillus anthracis associated with high-level quinolone resistance. J. Antimicrob.Chemother. 54: 90-94.

Recent Presentations

• de Azavedo J.C.S., McGeer A., Duncan C., Davidson R., Low D.E., Bast D.B. A New Generation of Fluoroquinolone Resistant Clinical Isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae: Can we meet the Challenge. In Abstracts of the 13th European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Glasgow, Scotland. Abstract #P1545. (May 2003).
• Bast D., Yue M., Duncan C.,Mandell L., Low D., de Azavedo J. Comparative Efficacies of Moxifloxacin and Levofloxacin against Streptococcus pneumoniae Using a Novel Murine Model of Pneumonia. In Abstracts of the 13th European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Glasgow, Scotland. Abstract #1617. (May 2003).
• Low D., Duncan C., de Azavedo J., McGeer A., Bast D. TopoisomeraseII Mutations in Susceptible Pneumococci: The Need for Revised NCCLS Breakpoints. In Abstracts of the 13th European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Glasgow, Scotland. Abstract #O247. (May 2003)
• Musgrave H, MacFarlane M., Cambell S., Bast D., de Azavedo J., Low D., Davidson R. Comparative Bactericidal Activity of Moxifloxacin, Gatifloxacin and Levofloxacin using Simulated ELF concentrations. In Abstracts of the 13th European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Glasgow, Scotland. Abstract #P1425. (May 2003).
• Duncan C.L., Bast D.J., Low D.E., de Azavedo J.C. A Rapid Assay for Screening parC and gyrA Mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae. In: Abstracts of the 43nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Chicago, IL. Abstract # D-1889. P 194 (Sept. 2003)
• de Azavedo J.C.S. Kong G., Duncan C.L, Pong-Porter S., Mandell L.A., Low D.E., Bast D.J. Evaluation of the Activity of Garenoxacin (GRN) Compared with Ciprofloxacin (CIP) against Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli Collected from Across Canada. In: Abstracts of the 43nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Chicago, IL. Abstract # E-150. P 200 (Sept. 2003)
• Paterson D.L., Mcgeer A., Yilmaz M, Capitano B., Szabo D., Bast D., de Azavedo J.C., Willey B.M., Low D.E., International Salmonella Study Group. Antibiotic Susceptibility of Nontyphoidal Salmonella - a 14 Country Surveillance Study. In: Abstracts of the 43nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Chicago, IL. Abstract # C2-867. P 126 (Sept. 2003)
• Bast D.J., Chen X., Dresser L., Mandell L.A., Low D.E., de Azavedo J.C. Outcomes of Moxifloxacin (MXF) Treatment against Advancing Stages of Pneumococcal Pneumonia in Mice: a Novel Approach for Antimicrobial Testing Using Skin-Temperature as a Measure of Disease Severity. In: Abstracts of the 43nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Chicago, IL. Abstract # B-324. P 45 (Sept. 2003)
• Bast D.J., Bell D., Chen X., Dresser L., Mandell L.A., Low D.E. and de Azavedo J.C.S. Moxifloxacin and levofloxacin treatment outcomes against pneumococcal pneumonia in a novel skin-temperature murine model. In: Abstracts of the 13th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (P897)(Prague, Czech Republic)(2004).
• de Azavedo J.C.S., Dresser L., Yue M., Duncan C., Mandell L.A., Low D.E. and Bast D.J. Gemifloxacin is highly effective against a first-step ParC mutant of Streptococcus pneumoniae in a murine pneumonia model. In: Abstracts of the 44th Interscience Conference on AAC (Abstract D-1737) (Washington, D.C.)(2004).
• Duncan C., de Azavedo J.C.S., Goren R., Green K., Jamieson F., Reller B., McGeer A., Low D.E., Paterson D.L. and Bast D.J. Failure to detect fluoroquinolone resistance in Salmonella using NCCLS ciprofloxacin breakpoints. In: Abstracts of the 44th Interscience Conference on AAC (Abstract D-1737) (Washington, D.C.)(2004).
• Paterson D.L., Szabo D., Low D.E., McGeer A., Bast D.J., de Azavedo J.C.S., Bonomo R.A., International Salmonella Study Group. Resistance to both quinolones and to extended-spectrum cephalosporins in Salmonellae: an emerging public health threat. (Abstract C2-1718). In: Abstracts of the 44nd Interscience Conference on AAC (Washington, D.C) (2004).
• Graham C., Paterson D.L., Bast D.J., de Azavedo J.C.S., Pong-Porter S., Green K., Duncan C., McGeer A. and Low D.E. Disc diffusion as a rapid screen for first-step GyrA mutations in Salmonella spp. (Abstract D-1738). In Abstracts of the Interscience Conference on AAC (Washington, D.C.) (2004).
• Bast D.J. Yue M., Dresser L., Mandell L.A., Low D.E. and de Azavedo J.C.S. Short-course gemifloxacin therapy is effective against Streptococcus pneumoniae in a murine model of pneumonia. In: Abstracts of CHEST 2004 (Abstract 243) (Seattle, Washington)(2004).
• Bast D.J. Duncan C., Kilburn L., Downar J., Kong B. Low D. and de Azavedo J.C.S. Gemifloxacin has a lower potential than other fluoroquinolones for the selection of quinolone-resistance-determining-region (QRDR) mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae. In: Abstracts of 2nd International Symposium Resistant Gram-Positive Infections (Berlin, Germany) (2004).