How is central carbon metabolism linked to virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis?

In 2011 there were 8.7 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths worldwide from tuberculosis. Understanding how Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes disease is a vital part of developing improvements to treatment and prevention. The intracellular nutrition of M. tuberculosis is poorly understood but it is clear that bacterial metabolism is linked to virulence.

Research in my group focuses on the regulation of central metabolism. Recently we have shown that M. tuberculosis has a complete TCA cycle that is regulated by the activity of protein kinase G, a protein known to be associated with virulence. Protein kinase G also regulates glutamate metabolism. These pathways appear to be particularly vulnerable in M. tuberculosis, making potentially interesting for inhibition as a new strategy for drug development.

Ongoing research aims to explore the reason for this vulnerability and improve the understanding of M. tuberculosis metabolism during infection and metabolic interactions with the host.

Students within my group receive training in modern techniques of microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology, in addition to the broad training programme offered to all PhD students at the University. There is a concentration of Tuberculosis research groups in the University and students become involved in collaborations within Leicester, the rest of the UK and Europe.


We are an equal opportunities employer and particularly welcome applications for Ph.D. places from women, minority ethnic and other under-represented groups.