Paul J Planet

About

Paul J. Planet, Ph.D, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in pediatric infectious diseases with particular interests in antibiotic resistant infections such as MRSA, respiratory infections, and chronic infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. His research program focuses on the evolution and ecology of infectious diseases, utilizing whole genome phylogenetics, high-throughput sequencing, and bioinformatics to generate hypotheses tested through bench-based microbiology and molecular techniques. Dr. Planet also investigates the evolution and spread of antibiotic-resistant strains and the impact of the pulmonary microbiome in cystic fibrosis. He is a senior researcher at the American Museum of Natural History and has contributed to understanding the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

Research topics

• Biology
• Microbiology
• Medicine
• Genetics
• Virology

Selected publications

• Lung function and microbiota diversity in cystic fibrosis

  Microbiome · 2020-04-01 · 268 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Chronic infection and concomitant airway inflammation is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for people living with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although chronic infection in CF is undeniably polymicrobial, involving a lung microbiota, infection surveillance and control approaches remain underpinned by classical aerobic culture-based microbiology. How to use microbiomics to direct clinical management of CF airway infections remains a crucial challenge. A pivotal step towards levera…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Arresting microbiome development limits immune system maturation and resistance to infection in mice

  Cell Host & Microbe · 2023-03-29 · 116 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence to inform potential vaccine coverage

  medRxiv · 2025-06-30 · 10 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against 70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could avert ~400,000 cases and ~80,000 deaths annually, mostly in Africa and South Asia. Vaccine formulations targeting the capsular polysaccharide (K) or lipopolysaccharide (O) antigens are in development. Global K. pneumoniae populations display extensive K and O diversity, necessitating a polyvalent vaccin…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Regulation of airway fumarate by host and pathogen promotes Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia

  Nature Communications · 2025-08-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of healthcare-associated pneumonia, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality worldwide. As a ubiquitous colonizer of the upper respiratory tract, S. aureus must undergo substantial metabolic adaptation to achieve persistent infection in the distinctive microenvironment of the lung. We observed that fumC, which encodes the enzyme that converts fumarate to malate, is highly conserved with low mutation rates in S. aureus isolates from chronic lu…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The effect of fecal microbial transplantation in a pediatric patient after 28 episodes of febrile urinary tract infection

  Pediatric Nephrology · 2025-05-20 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Recurrent febrile urinary tract infections (fUTIs) in children can lead to serious complications such as renal scarring and progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD), with growing evidence indicating that gut microbiome dysbiosis may play a key role in their development. Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is an established therapeutic approach for restoring gut microbial balance; however, its use in patients with recurrent fUTIs remains limited and underexplored. This case study describes a 10…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K08AI101005

  NIH · $405k · 2015

• Bacterial Interference to Prevent Staphylococcus aureus Infection

  NIH · $457k · 2018–2022

• In Host Evolution of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Cystic Fibrosis

  NIH · $485k · 2020–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Ahmed M. Moustafa

  University of Pennsylvania

  220 shared

• Apurva Narechania

  American Museum of Natural History

  119 shared

• Barry N. Kreiswirth

  Hackensack Meridian Health

  105 shared

• Barun Mathema

  Columbia University

  99 shared

• César A. Arias

  Universidad El Bosque

  90 shared

• Chanelle Ryan

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  77 shared

• Liang Chen

  71 shared

• José M. Munita

  Universidad del Desarrollo

  69 shared

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

• John Q. Trojanowskih-296
• Craig B. Thompsonh-277
• Daniel J Raderh-236