Rate My Professor Nina Dickerhof

Dickerhof's research elucidates how the immune system utilizes oxidants to combat bacteria and how pathogens evade these defenses. She discovered critical antioxidant systems in Streptococcus pneumoniae enabling survival against oxidative killing by the immune system, including the flavoprotein disulfide reductase Har protecting against hypothiocyanous acid and genes associated with tolerance identified via genome-wide screening. Employing biophysical, structural, and mutational studies, her work aims to disarm bacterial antioxidants. She also investigates immune-derived oxidants causing tissue damage and chronic inflammation, particularly in cystic fibrosis, identifying biomarkers like oxidized glutathione, uric acid, and urinary glutathione sulfonamide for detecting oxidative stress in lung disease. Author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles cited more than 1,200 times, key publications include "Dioxygenation of tryptophan residues by superoxide and myeloperoxidase" (2025, Journal of Biological Chemistry), "Hypothiocyanous acid reductase is critical for host colonization and infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae" (2024), "A newly identified flavoprotein disulfide reductase Har protects Streptococcus pneumoniae against hypothiocyanous acid" (2022), "Changes in urinary glutathione sulfonamide (GSA) levels between admission and discharge of patients with cystic fibrosis" (2024), and "Oxidized glutathione and uric acid as biomarkers of early cystic fibrosis lung disease" (2016).