4 Year Wellcome Trust PhD Programme: Characterisation of the Group A Carbohydrate biosynthesis machinery

The Group A Carbohydrate (GAC) is a virulence factor from the human exclusive pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, which causes a range of diseases, ranging from mild tonsillitis to severe and life-threatening and lethal diseases, such as toxic shock syndrome. This project will address the functional and structural characterisation of the GAC biosynthesis machinery, using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology and structural biology methods, including the bacterial-2 hybrid system, cross-linking proteomics and electron microscopy. Furthermore, the project will address the investigation of potential inhibitors that interfere with protein complex formation, and subsequent machinery assembly.