Projects

The activity of cyclic lipopeptides, produced by Pseudomonas bacteria and chemically synthesized analogues will be tested in a standardized way on human (healthy and cancer) cells, plant cell suspensions and fungal cells. Using a combination of biological and (physico-)chemical methods we will test the hypothesis that in all these eukaryotic cells, these lipopeptides act on lipids in the cell membranes.

Cells have developed diverse mechanisms to protect themselves from acute damage by environmental stresses, such as nutrient or growth factor deprivation, oxidative stress and DNAdamage. In all these responses, stress-regulated protein kinases and phosphatases are commonly involved. Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a major cellular phosphatase with pleiotropic functions, including in stress signaling. Here, we aim to investigate how cellular ...

The global emergence of antimicrobial resistance has been recognized as a major threat to human kind. Although antimicrobial resistance is a global problem, low and middle income countries, are disproportionally affected by this threat. Peru, a middle-income country, has one of the highest rates of resistance to third-generation cephalosporins among Gram-negative bacteria in Latin-American and worldwide. Importantly, these rates are ...

Unlike in Northern countries, where non-typhoidal Salmonella causes self-limiting diarrhea, non-typhoidal Salmonella is the most common cause of bacterial bloodstream infections in children in sub-Saharan Africa. Case fatality is between 20-30%. Susceptible hosts include children with Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria, severe anemia, acute malnutrition, and HIV infected individuals. Salmonella ...

Invasive salmonellosis comprise deep-seated infections with Salmonella Typhi as well as with the Non-Typhoidal Salmonella (NTS), which are the main cause of bloodstream infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Invasive salmonellosis is associated with a high case fatality rate (up to 25% for NTS bloodstream infections in children) and increasing resistance to multiple antibiotics. Although recognized as a public health problem, their exact incidence ...

Despite the potential threat and impact of bacteria showing resistance to disinfectants and antiseptics, data from low resource settings, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. Moreover, in previous studies clonal identity between environmental and clinical bacterial isolates was not assessed by molecular methods. Therefore, there is no concluding evidence as to the role of the hospital environment as a possible cause of patient ...

Every year 6 million children younger than 5 years of age die, almost exclusively in low and middle-income countries. The main causes of death are neonatal problems, pneumonia and diarrhea. Among those surviving, many suffer with long-term consequences in growth and development. Multiple preventive interventions have been designed to decrease mortality and disability in children. Among these, early and exclusive breastfeeding is one of the ...

Aspergilli are ubiquitous fungi found in the environment and cause a whole spectrum of human diseases including invasive life threatening infections in immunocompromised hosts, like cancer or transplant patients. Triazole antifungal drugs are currently the cornerstones of prophylaxis and treatment of Aspergillus-related diseases but global emergence of triazole resistance is a concern. Exposure of Aspergillus fumigatus to ...

Salinity Gradient Power- Reverse Electrodialysis (SGP-RED), so-called blue energy, is a promising untapped membrane based renewable and sustainable energy generation technology. Salinity gradient energy can be defined as the energy reveals during the mixing of two solution having different concentration. Creating a controlled mixing in a RED stack gives the opportunity to transfer the mixing energy directly to electricity by redox reactions. ...