Elucidating the mechanism of action of novel agents which inhibit bacterial biofilm development

School of Life Sciences
PhD Research Studentship

Bacteria colonise almost all surfaces (bio-fouling). Surface attached bacteria can be very difficult to treat and remove effectively because of the mechanisms they have developed, e.g. the protection provided by the extracellular matrix the surface attached cells exude. However, Nature has provided us with examples of how to overcome this protection. The natural environment is a particularly fruitful place to look, with a rapidly expanding number of marine relevant materials for example being developed that work at very low effective concentrations. Such materials offer alternative routes to achieving microbial control to those conferred by traditional antimicrobials.

Such natural materials and their synthetic analogues have been shown to have effects on a wide variety of bacteria and have also been shown to have activity against fungi and yeast. Despite the breadth and diversity of microorganisms affected, these compounds are generally not bactericidal but rather operate through specific mechanisms, which primarily involve interference in cell-cell communication behaviours. This PhD will studentship funded by Unilever will focus on the mechanism(s) of action by which these key natural products perturb biofilm development in diverse micro-organisms.

This project will combine the use of molecular microbiological and biophysical techniques. The student will receive training in molecular microbiology including techniques for handling micro-organisms, mutagenesis and reporter gene assays alongside biofilm flow cell assays and confocal microscopy.

This project will be jointly supervised by Professor Paul Williams and Dr Boyan Bonev. For more details see:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/life-sciences/people/paul.williams and
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/life-sciences/people/boyan.bonev

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Paul Williams. Email: [Email Address Removed]
Applications, with a detailed CV and the names and addresses of 2 referees, should be sent to Professor Paul Williams, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park , Nottingham NG7 2RD UK quoting ref: Unilever PhD. Closing date: 30th October 2014