About the Project
Understanding multiple antibiotic resistance in the ESKAPE pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.
Acinetobacter baumannii is a World Health Organisation “priority pathogen” of greatest risk to human health. The bacterium undergoes frequent phenotypic change, believed critical to its success. The mechanistic basis, and clinical implications, are not known. We have discovered a process never described for bacteria; specific A. baumannii gene clusters are “marked”, by chromosome folding, for frequent disruption by transposable DNA (1). Genes impacted are those involved in pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance, and we propose this is how A. baumannii generates phenotypic variation in its populations to cause disease and persist in hospitals. We have recently obtained £3.5M in research funding to study this problem alongside scientists at the Universities of Oxford and Exeter. As a MIBTP funded student, you will work with this research team, providing excellent opportunities for additional training and mentorship. You will learn to use microbiology tools, infection models, and collaborate with clinicians. The aim is to determine how targeted transposition allows A. baumannii, and other bacterial pathogens, to rapidly adapt to stresses including antibiotics and the human immune system.
- Cooper, C et al. Nature Commun. 15:[contact details available in the full listing])
Funding Notes
Funded by the MIBTP/BBSRC training programme (all students).
You can apply by following this link "Understanding multiple antibiotic resistance mechanisms in pathogenic bacteria" and registerng for our application system. The link covers two related projects in our lab, you do not need to further specify the particular project you're interested in.
The link View Website provides further important details of the MIBTP programme that you should read when applying.
References
- Cooper, C et al. Nature Commun. 15:[contact details available in the full listing])
Project supervisors
Professor David Grainger PhD
Professor David Grainger received his first degree in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham in 1999. He then trained as a teacher at the University of Wolverhampton in 2000. After his teaching qualification, he returned to the University of Birmingham to complete his PhD studies in 2004. Following his PhD, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate, where he developed high-throughput techniques to map gene regulatory events in bacteria. In 2008, he was awarded a Career Development Fellowship by the Wellcome Trust, which he used to establish his research group at the University of Warwick. During his time there, he collaborated with biophysical scientists and began studying DNA and its interactions at the single-molecule level. In March 2011, he relocated his research group to the University of Birmingham, where his current research focuses on deciphering the chromosome biology of pathogenic bacteria.
Professor Grainger's research focuses on bacterial chromosome biology, pathogenicity, and antibiotic resistance mechanisms. He employs high-throughput analysis of DNA binding events and single-molecule analysis to understand the biology of bacterial chromosomes. His current research interests include deciphering how gene regulation is managed on a chromosome-wide scale, how pathogens control the production of toxins, and the molecular pathways leading to multiple antibiotic resistance. He has established collaborations with biophysical scientists to study DNA interactions at the single-molecule level.
