Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen which causes a range of severe (potentially lethal) infections, and readily develops antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to determine how conditions at sites of infection encourage bacteria to evolve to evade these defences, and how such adaptations might be overcome. I will be using a range of disease-relevant stressors (e.g. low oxygen levels and products from neutrophils) to drive bacterial evolution. Genetic sequencing of evolved bacteria and interactions with immune cells will identify how resistance is occurring, and how it might be overcome. If successful, this will provide insights into the emergence of bacterial resistance to immune cell killing and identify strategies to overcome such evolutionary adaptions. |
The Team
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