Paul G. Egland, Ph. D.

Dr. Egland teaches General Microbiology, Introductory Microbiology, Cell Biology and introductory Biology for Biology majors. He also teaches an interdisciplinary course for the Civitas program called “Germs Gone Wild: The Influence of Disease on Civilizations” with Dr. Michael Mullin from the History Department. Dr. Egland serves as the Chief Health Professions Advisor and as the contact person for pre-medical and pre-dental student advising. For info on pre-health professions programs, see www.augie.edu/academics/health-profession.

Associate Professor
Department Chair
Biology Department
Augustana College
2001 S. Summit Ave.
Sioux Falls, SD 57197
Phone: 605.274.4719
Toll-Free: 800.727.2844 ext. 4719
Fax: 605.274.4718
Email: paul.egland@augie.edu

Education

Ph.D. Microbiology University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 1997
Dissertation: The molecular basis for anaerobic benzoate degradation by Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

B.A. Biology Luther College, Decorah, IA 1991

Appointments

Associate Professor, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, 2010-present

Assistant Professor, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, 2004-2010

Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. 2000-2004. Advisor: Dr. Paul E. Kolenbrander. Research topic: Coaggregation and interspecies bacterial communication in human dental plaque biofilms.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. 1998-1999. Advisor: Dr. Caroline S. Harwood. Research Topic: Investigation of a reductive, Coenzyme A-mediated pathway for 3-chlorobenzoate degradation.

Courses Taught

General Microbiology
Introductory Microbiology
Cell Biology ÿIntroductory
Biological Principles I
Germs Gone Wild: The Influence of Disease on Civilizations

Undergraduate research opportunities with Dr. Egland

The focus of Dr. Egland's research is the communication that occurs between different species of bacteria that compose the human dental plaque biofilm. This communication includes physical contact between cells and metabolic interactions between organisms in the dental plaque biofilm. Dr. Egland's current research focus is communication that occurs between two members of the plaque community, Veillonella atypica and Streptococcus gordonii. When these organisms are growing together, S. gordonii induces expression of an amylase gene that is not expressed when the organisms are grown separately. Dr. Egland’s previous students have identified a gene encoding a transcription factor that is important for this communication between these organisms. In the future, Egland and his students hope to identify the mechanism of signaling between these species and find other genes involved.

Eric Ransom and Ben Jensen

Grants Supporting Undergraduate Research with Dr. Egland

NIH Grant Number 2 P20 RR016479 from the INBRE Program of the National Center for Research Resources (SD BRIN grant, 2001-present). Title: Development of the Biomedical Research Infrastructure of South Dakota. Amount (for Augustana as a whole): $474,000 per year.

Publications(student names are in italics)

Johnson, B.P., B.J. Jensen, E.M. Ransom, K.A. Heinemann, K.M. Vannatta , K.A. Egland and P.G. Egland. 2009. Interspecies signaling between Veillonella atypica and Streptococcus gordonii requires the transcription factor CcpA. J. Bacteriol . 191:5563-5565.

Rieck, L.D., J.V. Pottala, S.L. Eliason, M.R. Koch, P.G. Egland and K.A. Egland. 2008. Status of HER-2 gene amplification in breast cancers from Native American women. Cancer Genet. Cytogenet. 187:54-56.

Rickard A.H., R.J. Palmer, Jr., D.S. Blehert, S.R. Campagna, M.F. Semmelhack, P.G. Egland, B.L. Bassler, and P.E. Kolenbrander. 2006. Autoinducer 2: a concentration-dependent signal for mutualistic bacterial biofilm growth. Mol Microbiol 60:1446-1456.

Kolenbrander P.E., P. G. Egland, P. I. Diaz, R. J. Palmer, Jr., 2005. Genome-genome interactions: bacterial communities in initial dental plaque. Trends Microbiol 13:11-15.

Egland, P. G ., R. J. Palmer, Jr., and P. E. Kolenbrander, 2004. Interspecies communication in Streptococcus gordonii--Veillonella atypica biofilms: Signaling in flow conditions requires juxtaposition. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:16917-16922.

Kolenbrander, P.E., R. F. Lerud, D. S. Blehert, P. G. Egland , J. S. Foster, and R. J. Palmer, Jr. 2003. The role of coaggregation in oral biofilm formation. In: Biofilms in Medicine, Industry and Environmental Biotechnology, V. O'Flaherty, A. Moran, P. Lens and P. Stoodley (ed.), IWA Publishing, London, UK. p.32-46.

Kolenbrander PE, Andersen RN, Blehert DS, P. G. Egland , J. S. Foster, R. J. Palmer Jr,. 2002. Communication among oral bacteria. Microbiol Mol Bio Review 66:486-505.

Egland P. G ., L. D. Dû, P. E. Kolenbrander. 2001. Identification of independent Streptococcus gordonii SspA and SspB functions in coaggregation with Actinomyces naeslundii. Infect Immun 69:7512-7516.

Invited Talks

Invited seminar, South Dakota Dental Hygiene Association, February 23, 2012.
Invited seminar, 69^th Annual North Central Branch American Society for Microbiology Meeting, La Crosse, WI. October 9-10, 2009.
Invited seminar, Biomedical Engineering Program, University of South Dakota, November 25, 2008.
South Dakota Academy of Science Signal Transduction Symposium, April 13, 2007.
Invited seminar, St. Olaf College Department of Biology, April 30, 2007.

Selected Poster Presentations with Augustana Students (student names are in italics)

Wadie Mahauad Fernandez, Rebecca Joerger, Michael Edgington, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Multispecies Oral Bacterial Communities: Defining the Mechanism of Communication Between Streptococcus gordonii and Veillonella atypica. BRIN Student Research Poster Session, July 2011, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.

Dane Rasmussen, Paul Mallory and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Identification of Three New Bacterial Phylotypes from Human Dental Plaque Biofilms. BRIN Student Research Poster Session, July 2011, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.

Dane Rasmussen, Paul Mallory, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Identification of Three New Bacterial Phylotypes from Human Dental Plaque Biofilms. South Dakota Academy of Science, April, 2011, Oacoma, SD.

Paul Mallory, Dane Rasmussen, Marissa Kern, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Development of a GFP Reporter for Studying Streptoccal Gene Expression. South Dakota Academy of Science, April 2011, Oacoma, SD.

Paul Mallory, Dane Rasmussen, Marissa Kern, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Development of a GFP Reporter for Studying Streptoccal Gene Expression. BRIN Student Research Poster Session, July 2010, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.

Ben Jensen, Marissa Kern, Blake Ridgway, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: GFP Codon Optimization for Expression in Streptococcus gordonii. South Dakota BRIN Convocation. July 2009, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.

Ben Jensen, Marissa Kern, Blake Ridgway, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: GFP Codon Optimization for Expression in Streptococcus gordonii. South Dakota Academy of Science, April 2010, Spearfish, SD.

Ben Jensen, Bart Johnson, Eric Ransom, and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Transcription Factor CcpA is Required for Interspecies Signaling Between Veillonella atypica and Streptococcus gordonii. International Conference on Gram Positive Pathogens, October 6, 2008, Omaha, NE.

Bart Johnson and Paul Egland. Poster Title: The Transcription Factor RegG is Required for Expression from the Veillonella atypica- induced Amylase Gene of Streptococcus gordonii. BRIN Student Research Poster Session, August 2007, USD School of Medicine, Vermillion, SD.

Kimberly Heinemann and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Involvement of the Transcriptional Regulator RegG in Streptococcus gordonii - Veillonella atypica Symbiosis. South Dakota Academy of Science, April 2007, Brookings, SD.

Kelley Vannatta and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Metabolic Interactions between the Dental Plaque Bacteria Streptococcus gordonii and Veillonella atypica. Augustana Symposium, April 2006, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD.

Amanda Johnson, Michael Mullin and Paul Egland . Poster Title: Bird Migration and Spread of Avian Flu. Augustana Symposium, April 2006, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD.

Kelley Vannatta and Paul Egland. Poster Title: Metabolic Interactions between the Dental Plaque Bacteria Streptococcus gordonii and Veillonella atypica. South Dakota Academy of Science, April 2006. Chamberlain, SD.