DNA repair in bacteria: elucidating the effects of cell physiology

Interested individuals must follow Steps 1, 2 and 3 at this link on how to apply
http://www.ed.ac.uk/biology/prospective-students/postgraduate/pgr/how-to-apply

Our society is currently facing an important problem with the rise of multiple antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. As the development of new antibiotics has stalled in recent years, new strategies are urgently needed to supplement current available therapies. This involves increasing the efficiency of already available antibiotics as well as identifying new targets.

A large class of clinically relevant antibiotics induce DNA damage which ultimately leads to stopping bacterial cells growth and/or killing them. However, the relationship between the cellular physiology of bacteria and their susceptibility to antibiotics is not yet clearly understood. In particular, while it has been shown recently that susceptibility to antibiotics impairing translation is highly dependent on how fast bacteria grow, this information is unknown for antibiotics that induce DNA damage. The objective of the project is to characterize experimentally how the susceptibility of Escherichia coli cells to various DNA damaging agent depends on its growth rate and other parameters of its physiology. Measurement will be performed at the population and single cell level using custom microfluidics devices and state of the art microscopy. The experimental results will be used to inform mathematical models of bacterial cell growth under DNA damaging conditions.


Candidates with a background in biology, physics or applied mathematics interested in working in a highly interdisciplinary environment and keen to learn experimental biology and/or modeling are encouraged to apply.