About

Carlos F. Gonzalez is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on plant bacteriology, specifically addressing the genetics of virulence and pathogenicity in members of the Burkholderia Cepacia Complex (BCC), which includes nine species recognized as significant pathogens in cystic fibrosis patients. His laboratory studies secretion systems responsible for exporting cytotoxic proteins in both B. cepacia, a plant pathogen, and B. cenocepacia, a human pathogen, with the aim of determining common mechanisms for pathogenicity. Additionally, he conducts genomic analysis of BCC bacteriophages. Dr. Gonzalez earned his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1978. His work has contributed to understanding the role of phages in bacterial pathogenicity, the mechanisms of bacterial secretion systems, and the development of phage therapy approaches for bacterial infections.

Research topics

• Genetics
• Microbiology
• Biology
• Computational biology
• Virology

Selected publications

• 5PSQ-132 Adverse drug events attended in emergency department: analysis, economic impact and preventive measures adopted

  2025-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  <h3>Background and Importance</h3> The increase of polytherapy leads to a higher inappropriate use of medication. The incidence of adverse drug events (ADE) are increasing and some of them are severe, preventable and have a significant public health and economic impact. Studies show the importance of incorporating preventive measures in order to improve patient’s safety and healthcare system resources. <h3>Aim and Objectives</h3> To determine the prevalence of patients attending the Emergency Department (ED) because of an ADE, to identify the implicated drugs, and to classify the causes and level of preventability. The economic impact of preventable ADE was determined and preventive measures adopted were described. <h3>Material and Methods</h3> Observational and cross-sectional study included patients above 18 years of age who were attended in ED because of an ADE in a tertiary-level hospital on 15 March 2023 at 12:00 pm. The drugs involved and the ADE were identified. The degree of prevention was defined according to the Schumock-Thornton algorithm. The economic burden was conducted, including an assessment of the costs associated with the tests required, treatments, human resources and hospital stay. Strategies to prevent ADE were proposed by a multidisciplinary team. The study was approved by the hospital Ethics Committee. <h3>Results</h3> Of the 75 patients who were enrolled, seven (9.33%) attended for an ADE. The median age was 74 years (range: 16–98 years). The responsible drugs were digoxin (bradycardia), furosemide (heart failure), apixaban (gastrointestinal bleeding), vincristine (neutropenic fever), nitrofural (erythema), moxifloxacin (myalgia) and amoxicillin (diarrhoea). Four (57.1%) ADE were probably preventable, one (14.3 %) definitely preventable and two (28.6 %) not preventable. The overall healthcare cost of preventable ADE was 9,317 €. In order to prevent ADE a bundle of measures were implemented, including pharmaceutical care in ED, the assessment of therapeutic appropriateness and a follow-up on discharge. Finally, a data intelligence tool was developed, incorporating algorithms that generated alerts to detect ADE. <h3>Conclusion and Relevance</h3> Adverse drug events have an important prevalence and economic impact on the healthcare system. In this study, approximately 70% of them could have been prevented, which suggests the contribution of prevention measures to reduce ADE, improving the quality and resources of the healthcare system. <h3>References and/or Acknowledgements</h3> <h3>Conflict of Interest</h3> No conflict of interest

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intra-individual diversity of bacteriophage susceptibility in Burkholderia cultured from cystic fibrosis sputum

  Journal of Cystic Fibrosis · 2025-05-31

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Complex Renal Involvement in Multiple Myeloma and Extramedullary Plasmacytoma: A Clinical Perspective

  Journal of the American Society of Nephrology · 2024-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Pulmonary Embolism: Hidden in the Disguise of Atrial Flutter/Atrial Tachycardia

  Cureus · 2024-09-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Every year, pulmonary embolism (PE) causes about 100,000 fatalities in the United States. Acute PE is a prevalent and occasionally fatal kind of venous thromboembolism (VTE). PE can appear in a variety of ways and is frequently nonspecific in its clinical presentation, making its diagnosis challenging. In order to limit the associated morbidity and mortality, individuals with suspected PE should be evaluated efficiently. This will allow for a prompt diagnosis and administration of medication. An efficient and convenient method for diagnosing PE is to use an electrocardiogram (EKG). Remembering that the typical EKG for PE cannot always be present is essential. Sinus tachycardia, a fairly nonspecific EKG presentation, is the most common. In this case report, we present a 60-year-old male who exhibited signs and symptoms of chest pain and dyspnea, with EKG showing atrial flutter, and was ultimately diagnosed with PE as the underlying trigger. The objective of this case study presentation was to highlight the need to rule out PE in patients exhibiting dyspnea and chest pain, even in the absence of a traditional textbook EKG appearance. It is very crucial to consider the holistic presentation of the patient. Acute onset dyspnea and chest pain should always prompt PE as an important differential.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Complexity-Aware Web Searching Paradigm to Improve User Productivity using Natural Language Processing and the DistilBERT Transformer Model

  2024-05-25

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Search engines (Google search, Bing search, etc.) have had great success over the past decade, promoting productivity in almost every area. Based on user inputs, search engines are able to present users with lists of related contents (links) and previews. More recently, high-level human-like responses combining various searched contents are being made possible due to recent advancements in large language models (LLM). However, oftentimes, users still find it still hard to quickly navigate to the contents they really look for and demand a better searching framework. For example, some users might waste time skimming through lots of technical details when they just hope to have an overview. We examine this user demand and believe a complexity-aware pipeline could greatly help with this inconvenience. More specifically, we propose a searching paradigm that analyzes results from standard search engines by their complexities first, and then present users with complexity-labeled contents through a new user interface design. Through this new searching paradigm, we aim to present users with more customized search results sorted by their complexity labels with consideration to user intent, whether that would be a high-level overview or a detailed technical inspection. This is done through utilizing state-of-the-art transformer models fine-tuned on our custom-made dataset and modified for our intent.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intersecting Pathologies: A Case Report on the Co-presentation of Quasi-Moyamoya Disease and Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, Monoclonal Plasma Cell Disorder, and Skin Changes (POEMS) Syndrome

  Cureus · 2024-08-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare chronic vasculopathy characterized by progressive stenosis of the internal carotid arteries and the formation of fragile collateral vessels in the brain. Polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal plasma cell disorder, and skin changes (POEMS) syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome with a complex presentation that includes polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein, and skin changes. Here, we report a unique case of a 54-year-old male with MMD presenting with recurrent speech loss and mumbling, later diagnosed with POEMS syndrome. Initial imaging revealed Moyamoya vasculopathy, confirmed by computed tomographic angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Further examination revealed polyneuropathy, organomegaly, and elevated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), meeting the diagnostic criteria for POEMS syndrome. The patient was treated with a cyclophosphamide-bortezomib-dexamethasone regimen, followed by the addition of daratumumab, resulting in clinical improvement. This case highlights the importance of thorough diagnostics and a multidisciplinary treatment approach for patients with complex comorbidities, emphasizing the need for early detection and targeted therapy in managing dual pathologies of MMD and POEMS syndrome.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Phage Milagro: a platform for engineering a broad host range virulent phage for <i>Burkholderia</i>

  Journal of Virology · 2023-11-09 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT The Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) causes life-threatening respiratory tract infections in persons with cystic fibrosis (CF). In CF patients, end-stage pulmonary disease often requires lung transplantation, and pre-transplant colonization with antibiotic-resistant Burkholderia is predictive of poor post-transplant outcomes. To address this issue, phage therapy has been proposed as a treatment for these infections. However, the majority of characterized Bcc phages are temperate and are therefore difficult to use as therapeutics, and the few obligately lytic phages that have been isolated have limited host ranges. To overcome these limitations, we have produced a virulent, broad-host range derivative of the temperate Burkholderia cenocepacia phage Milagro. Phage Milagro is a 39.1-kb temperate myophage related to phage KL3 and the paradigm coliphage P2. This phage showed a phenotype of spontaneous autoplaquing on lawns of Milagro lysogens, and these autoplaques were found to be produced by virulent mutants of the parental phage Milagro. Mutations associated with virulence were identified as single base changes, insertions or deletions in the phage lysogeny control region that define potential operator sites required for lysogen maintenance. To improve phage host range, the C-terminal domain of the Milagro tail fiber was replaced with the receptor-binding domain of the broad-host range tailocin (high molecular weight bacteriocin) BceTMilo. A spontaneous virulent mutant of this engineered phage, designated Milagro vir gp20:Milo , exhibited an expanded host range over the parental phage and is able to infect multiple Bcc species including B. cenocepacia , Burkholderia multivorans , Burkholderia gladioli, Burkholderia dolosa , and Burkholderia vietnamensis . IMPORTANCE Burkholderia infections are a significant concern in people with CF and other immunocompromising disorders, and are difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics due to their inherent drug resistance. Bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses, are now seen as a potential alternative therapy for these infections, but most of the naturally occurring phages are temperate and have narrow host ranges, which limit their utility as therapeutics. Here we describe the temperate Burkholderia phage Milagro and our efforts to engineer this phage into a potential therapeutic by expanding the phage host range and selecting for phage mutants that are strictly virulent. This approach may be used to generate new therapeutic agents for treating intractable infections in CF patients.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Complete Genome Sequence of Burkholderia cenocepacia Phage Paku

  Microbiology Resource Announcements · 2022-03-28 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Burkholderia cenocepacia is able to cause infections in cystic fibrosis patients. B. cenocepacia phage Paku has a 42,727-bp genome sharing a phiKMV-like genome arrangement. T7-like tail components were identified in parallel with a tyrosine integrase, suggesting that Paku might exhibit a temperate lifestyle, an atypical feature for an Autographiviridae phage.

  PublisherDOI

• Sheep in wolves’ clothing: Temperate T7-like bacteriophages and the origins of the Autographiviridae

  Virology · 2022 · 30 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Microbiology

  Bacteriophage T7 is an extensively studied virulent phage, and its taxonomic family, the Autographiviridae, is broadly synonymous with a strictly virulent lifestyle. It is difficult to imagine how a T7-like phage could function in a "domesticated" temperate lifestyle, in which it is incorporated into the host's genome. Here we describe two temperate T7-like bacteriophages: ProddE, a Desulfovibrio phage, and Pasto, an Agrobacterium phage. Each contains recognizable T7-like proteins in the canonical T7-like gene order, but with the addition of lysogeny gene modules. While ProddE contains a phage-like repressor, Pasto lysogeny appears to be controlled by a novel MarR-like transcriptional regulator. In addition, we identify similar T7-like prophage elements in a wide variety of Gram-negative bacterial genomes and a small number of Gram-positive genomes. Identification of these elements in diverse bacterial species raises interesting evolutionary questions about the origins of T7-like phages and which lifestyle, temperate or virulent, is the ancestral form.

  PublisherDOI

• Complete Genome Sequence of Burkholderia gladioli Myophage Mana

  Microbiology Resource Announcements · 2021-05-19 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Burkholderia gladioli is known to cause respiratory tract infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Here, we describe the annotation of the 38,038-bp genome sequence of Mana, a P2-like phage of B. gladioli . Understanding the genomic characteristics of phages infecting pathogens like B. gladioli can lead to advancements in phage therapy.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Mei Liu

  Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College

  14 shared

• Ry Young

  Texas A&M University

  13 shared

• Jason J. Gill

  12 shared

• Tram Le

  Texas A&M University

  10 shared

• Guichun Yao

  Texas A&M University

  10 shared

• Jana N Satma

  St. George's University

  9 shared

• M. A. Zeitoun

  Texas A&M University

  9 shared

• Willard A. Taber

  9 shared

Labs

• Gonzalez LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Plant Pathology

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  1978