Understanding and preventing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae Institute of Tropical Medicine
Generating and evaluating antibiotic ...
This doctoral research proposal investigates the unique relationship between the bacterial capsular serotype, bacteriophage-encoded depolymerases that degrade capsular exopolysaccharides and the bacteriophage host spectrum, specifically for Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteriophages. The enzymatic properties of these exopolysaccharide depolymerases will be analysed. A first-in-class phage engineering method will be introduced to study the role of ...
Chronic inflammation of the nose and the paranasal sinuses, called chronic rhinosinusitis, affects around 10.7% of the general population. In patients with cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, this number increases to 83% and 30%, respectively. Chronic bacterial colonization and biofilm formation might contribute to recalcitrance of the disease, leading to persisting symptoms, poor postoperative outcomes, more frequent outpatient ...
Burn wounds remain frequently occurring injuries around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 11 million burn injuries occur annually. For these complicated injuries to heal properly, a delicate balance between a pro- and anti-inflammatory response is required, making them challenging to treat. This delicate balance is frequently disrupted by opportunistic pathogens, and can lead to life-threatening infections. Prominent ...
In recent years, evidence is mounting that small RNAs (sRNA) play an important regulatory role in eukaryotes as well as in bacteria. In model pathogens like Escherichia coli and Salmonella, these regulatory molecules can impact every stage of transcription and translation by base-pairing to their target. In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa small RNAs have been shown to be involved in iron acquisition, quorum-sensing, carbon ...
Detailed knowledge of the progression of bacteriophage infection has been limited to few model bacteriophages, mostly infecting Escherichia coli, as well as the results of low throughput and increasingly antiquated methods. However, state-of-the-art approaches now make it possible to explore decades of interest in the transcriptional strategies of phage as well as how they affect host transcription and metabolism, now re-sparked by ...
The most intense co-evolution on our globe takes place between bacteria and their viruses, called bacteriophages. Bacteriophages kill their bacterial host with a very high specificity. Every phage infection is initiated by the recognition of a specific structure on the bacterial surface by a receptor-binding protein (RBP). Some phages having a single RBP, infect only one specific bacterial serotype, while others can attack different bacterial ...
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. Their receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) specifically bind
bacterial outer cell structures. Tailocins are morphologically similar to head-less myovirus
bacteriophages. This project aims to turn well-characterized, safe phages and tailocins into highly
specific Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) targeting compounds by swapping RBPs across
phages, followed by a ...
A musculoskeletal infection remains a serious complication after trauma surgery with a significant socio-economic impact. As this complication still poses an important diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, this thesis will be divided into three work packages, as described below. The Infectious Complications After musculoskeletal Trauma (ICAT) study was initiated at UZ Leuven to gain various insights into the diagnosis and treatment of MSI. ...