E. faecalis and E. faecium, commonly found as part of the healthy gut flora in humans and animals, have become significant opportunistic pathogens in recent years. These bacteria are responsible for a variety of infections, including endocarditis and urinary tract, wound, and bloodstream infections, and are commonly associated with the hospital environment. Owing to increasing rates of resistance to last-resort antibiotics, phage therapy — using bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections — has been suggested as a potential solution for multidrug-resistant enterococcal infections.
Seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join a multidisciplinary project aimed at identifying bacteriophage-associated factors that contribute to bacterial fitness, virulence, and evolution in the globally important species Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium. Though enterococci are ranked as priority pathogens by the World Health Organisation and phage therapy is actively being considered for these increasingly hard-to-treat infections, our knowledge about the roles that prophages play in i) the ability of their host bacteria to cause infections, ii) their ability to interfere with phage therapy interventions, and iii) what unintended side effects phage therapy might induce, is very limited.
The successful candidate will receive training in a diverse range of techniques, including sequence analyses, comparative genomics and protein family evolution; microbiology; biochemistry, and molecular biology, including the use of CRISPR-based systems for targeted mutagenesis.
Applicants should send an up-to-date CV and cover letter to suzie.humphrey@strath.ac.uk
Register your interest here https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/secret-weapons-or-molecular-junk-determining-the-influence-of-bacteriophages-in-enterococcal-infections/?p182348
For more phage-related research and job opportunities, click here https://jobs.thephage.xyz/
