Klebsiella, phages and the capsule: what's going on?

随着抗生素耐药性危机的迫近，噬菌体越来越多地被研究作为抗生素的潜在替代品，但它们与细菌的机械相互作用方式在许多系统中知之甚少。本项目将利用转座子定向插入测序（TraDIS）和先进的生物膜模型，重点研究克雷伯氏菌荚膜和生物膜形成之间的相互作用。在本微生物学项目中，将使用分子微生物学、序列数据分析和荧光显微镜技术来了解噬菌体感染如何驱动克雷伯氏菌荚膜变异，以及如何影响毒力和生物膜形成。

With the looming antimicrobial resistance crisis, bacteriophages are increasingly investigated as a potential alternative to antibiotics, but the way they mechanisticly interact with bacteria is poorly understood for many systems. This project will focus on the interaction between phages, the Klebsiella capsule and biofilm formation, using transposon-directed insertion sequencing (TraDIS) and advanced biofilm models.In this microbiology project a variety of techniques in molecular microbiology, sequence data analysis and fluorescence microscopy will be used to understand how phage infection drives Klebsiella capsule variation and how that affects virulence and biofilm formation.