ToCARE: Dr. Bast Staff Profile

ToCARE Staff Directory

Dr. Darrin Bast, Ph.D.
Associate Director, ToCARE

Phone: 416-586-4800 ext. 3207
Fax: 416-586-8746

Email: dbast@mtsinai.on.ca

Darrin Bast is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the University of Toronto, Research Scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital and Associate Director of the Toronto Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation (ToCARE). Dr. Bast received his Bachelors of Science in Microbiology from the University of Guelph in 1992, his doctorate in Infectious Diseases from the University of Toronto in 1998 and has held a postgraduate appointment as a Medical Research Council Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Bast’s research interests include antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular mechanisms of resistance of antibiotic-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus anthracis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. Other interests include pathogenic and host responses to other Gram positive organisms like Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus iniae. Studies in our laboratory employ both in vitro and in vivo techniques, including a novel murine model of pneumonia.

Dr. Bast has presented numerous abstracts at both 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. He also has written a review article on Fluoroquinolone Resistance and a book chapter on Streptolysin S. In addition, he has refereed several articles for publication in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Dr. Bast has held or is currently holding research grants from Bayer, Sanofi–Aventis, Oscient, Merck, Ortho-McNeil, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, GlaxoSmithkline and the National Institutes of Health.

Recent Publications

Lim S., BAST D.J., McGeer A., de Azavedo J.C.S. and Low D.E. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Breakpoints and First-Step parC Mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Redefining Fluoroquinolone Resistance. Emerging Infectious Diseases 9: 832-837 (2003).
Athamna A., Massalhai M., Athamna M., Nura A., Medlej B., Ofek I., BAST D.J. and Rubenstein E. In vitro susceptibility of Bacillus anthracis to various antibacterial agents and their time-kill activity. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 53:247-251 (2003).
Athamna A., Massalhai M., Medlej B., BAST D.J. and Rubenstein E. In vitro post-antibiotic effect of fluoroquinolones, macrolides, ß-lactams, tetracyclines, Vancomycin, clindamycin, linezolid, chloramphenicol, quinupristin/dalfopristin and rifampicin on Bacillus anthracis. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 53:609-615 (2004).
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. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 48:3343-3348 (2004).
BAST D.J. Athamna A., Duncan C., de Azavedo J.C.S., Low D.E., Rahav G. , Farrell D. and Rubinstein E. Type II topoisomerase mutations in Bacillus anthracis associated with high-level quinolone resistance. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 54:90-94 (2004).
Athamna A., Athamna M., Abu-Rashed N., Medlej B., BAST D.J. and Rubinstein E. Selection of Bacillus anthracis isolates resistant to antibiotics. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 54:424-428 (2004).
Ambrose P.G., BAST D.J., Doern G.V., Iannini P.B., Jones R.N., Klugman K.P. and Low D.E. Fluoroquinolone-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, an emerging but unrecognized public health concern: is it time to resight the goal posts? Clinical Infectious Diseases. 39:1554-1556; author reply 1556-1557 (2004).