Clostridium difficile: an emerging zoonotic threat?

Background and significance of research:

Clostridia, a diverse group of anaerobic organisms, can be found as commensals in the GI Tract of humans and various other animals. Clostridium difficile, however, is an important human and animal pathogen. As the most common cause of infectious antibiotic-associated bacterial diarrhoea in healthcare settings worldwide infection (CDI) brings with it a concomitant impact upon human health and health care economics. C. difficile also poses a risk to animal welfare with the potential to negatively impact on animal production system economics. There are now widespread concerns of the role that pigs, and other animals, may play as reservoirs for potential zoonotic transmission of C. difficile. Whilst extensive characterisation of the organism’s pathogenesis, epidemiology and global spread have been carried out, the survival strategy of C. difficile in the challenging gut environment, of humans and animals, is still not fully understood.

Research aims:

To provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between C. difficile strains circulating within human and animal populations; to characterize C. difficile strains and variants within diverse environmental niches; to develop a gut model system to investigate the impact of C. difficile strains upon other microorganisms. There will be an expectation that C. difficile strains of specific interest will undergo extensive genomic and phenotypic dissection to understand more the microbiology of this important organism.

This project will be supervised by Professor Geoff McMullan and Professor John McGrath of the Institute for Global Food Security/School of Biological Sciences, and Dr Derek Fairley of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

The successful applicant will register as a research student at Queen’s University School of Biological Sciences.