Research

Cain AK

• Systematic analyses identify modes of action of ten clinically relevant biocides and antibiotic antagonism in Acinetobacter baumannii October 9, 2023
  Concerns exist that widespread use of antiseptic or disinfectant biocides could contribute to the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. To investigate this, we performed transposon-directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS) on the multidrug-resistant pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii, exposed to a panel of ten structurally diverse and clinically relevant biocides. Multiple gene targets encoding cell envelope or cytoplasmic […]
  Liping Li
• The Antimicrobial Properties of Pd^II - and Ru^II -pyta Complexes August 18, 2023
  Infections associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are poised to become the leading cause of death in the next few decades, a scenario that can be ascribed to two phenomena: antibiotic over-prescription and a lack of antibiotic drug development. The crowd-sourced initiative Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) has been testing research compounds contributed by […]
  Annick van Niekerk
• Portrait of a killer: Uncovering resistance mechanisms and global spread of Acinetobacter baumannii August 10, 2023
  Antibiotic resistance is a growing global concern in the field of medicine as it renders bacterial infections difficult to treat and often more severe. Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen causing a wide range of infections, including pneumonia, sepsis, urinary tract infections, and wound infections. A. baumannii has emerged as a significant healthcare-associated pathogen […]
  Amy K Cain
• A global data-driven census of <em>Salmonella</em> small proteins and their potential functions in bacterial virulence May 24, 2023
  Small proteins are an emerging class of gene products with diverse roles in bacterial physiology. However, a full understanding of their importance has been hampered by insufficient genome annotations and a lack of comprehensive characterization in microbes other than Escherichia coli. We have taken an integrative approach to accelerate the discovery of small proteins and […]
  Elisa Venturini
• The evolutionary tale of eight novel plasmids in a colistin-resistant environmental <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> isolate May 12, 2023
  Acinetobacter baumannii is an important opportunistic pathogen known for its high levels of resistance to many antibiotics, particularly those considered last resorts such as colistin and carbapenems. Plasmids of this organism are increasingly associated with the spread of clinically important antibiotic resistance genes. Although A. baumannii is a ubiquitous organism, to date, most of the […]
  Farzana T Prity
• DksA is a conserved master regulator of stress response in Acinetobacter baumannii May 9, 2023
  Coordination of bacterial stress response mechanisms is critical for long-term survival in harsh environments for successful host infection. The general and specific stress responses of well-studied Gram-negative pathogens like Escherichia coli are controlled by alternative sigma factors, archetypically RpoS. The deadly hospital pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is notoriously resistant to environmental stresses, yet it lacks RpoS, […]
  Ram P Maharjan
• Cross-protection and cross-feeding between Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii promotes their co-existence February 9, 2023
  Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae are opportunistic pathogens frequently co-isolated from polymicrobial infections. The infections where these pathogens co-exist can be more severe and recalcitrant to therapy than infections caused by either species alone, however there is a lack of knowledge on their potential synergistic interactions. In this study we characterise the genomes of A. […]
  Lucie Semenec
• Microfluidic Separation and Enrichment of <em>Escherichia coli</em> by Size Using Viscoelastic Flows January 19, 2023
  Here, we achieve the separation and enrichment of Escherichia coli clusters from its singlets in a viscoelastic microfluidic device. E. coli, an important prokaryotic model organism and a widely used microbial factory, can aggregate in clusters, leading to biofilm development that can be detrimental to human health and industrial processes. The ability to obtain high-purity […]
  Tianlong Zhang
• Identification of a novel LysR family transcriptional regulator controlling acquisition of sulfur sources in Acinetobacter baumannii January 10, 2023
  L-cysteine biosynthesis from inorganic sulfur represents a major mechanism by which reduced sulfur is incorporated into organic compounds. Cysteine biosynthesis and regulation is well characterized in E. coli. However, the regulation of sulfur metabolism in Acinetobacter baumannii is only partly understood, with the LysR type regulator, GigC known to control some aspects of sulfur reduction. […]
  Alaska Pokhrel
• Breaching the Barrier: Genome-Wide Investigation into the Role of a Primary Amine in Promoting E. coli Outer-Membrane Passage and Growth Inhibition by Ampicillin November 21, 2022
  Gram-negative bacteria are problematic for antibiotic development due to the low permeability of their cell envelopes. To rationally design new antibiotics capable of breaching this barrier, more information is required about the specific components of the cell envelope that prevent the passage of compounds with different physiochemical properties. Ampicillin and benzylpenicillin are β-lactam antibiotics with […]
  Claire Maher
• Metal Complexes as Antifungals? From a Crowd-Sourced Compound Library to the First <em>In Vivo</em> Experiments October 31, 2022
  There are currently fewer than 10 antifungal drugs in clinical development, but new fungal strains that are resistant to most current antifungals are spreading rapidly across the world. To prevent a second resistance crisis, new classes of antifungal drugs are urgently needed. Metal complexes have proven to be promising candidates for novel antibiotics, but so […]
  Angelo Frei
• Shape-based separation of drug-treated <em>Escherichia coli</em> using viscoelastic microfluidics June 1, 2022
  Here, we achieve shape-based separation of drug-treated Escherichia coli (E. coli) by viscoelastic microfluidics. Since shape is critical for modulating biological functions of E. coli, the ability to prepare homogeneous E. coli populations adopting uniform shape or sort bacterial sub-population based on their shape has significant implications for a broad range of biological, biomedical and […]
  Tianlong Zhang
• Genomic and phenotypic analyses of diverse non-clinical <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> strains reveals strain-specific virulence and resistance capacity February 15, 2022
  Acinetobacter baumannii is a critically important pathogen known for its widespread antibiotic resistance and ability to persist in hospital-associated environments. Whilst the majority of A. baumannii infections are hospital-acquired, infections from outside the hospital have been reported with high mortality. Despite this, little is known about the natural environmental reservoir(s) of A. baumannii and the […]
  Mohammad Hamidian
• Length-based separation of <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> bacterial populations by viscoelastic microfluidics February 7, 2022
  In this study, we demonstrated the label-free continuous separation and enrichment of Bacillus subtilis populations based on length using viscoelastic microfluidics. B. subtilis, a gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, has been widely used as a model organism and an industrial workhorse. B. subtilis can be arranged in different morphological forms, such as single rods, chains, and clumps, […]
  Ping Liu
• Genomic investigation of a suspected <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em> outbreak in a neonatal care unit in sub-Saharan Africa November 18, 2021
  A special-care neonatal unit from a large public hospital in Malawi was noted as having more frequent, difficult-to-treat infections, and a suspected outbreak of multi-drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae was investigated using genomic characterisation. All K. pneumoniae bloodstream infections (BSIs) from patients in the neonatal ward (n=62), and a subset of K. pneumoniae BSI isolates (n=38) from […]
  Jennifer Cornick
• Editorial: Secondary Effects of Antibiotic Exposure September 10, 2021
  No abstract
  Amy K Cain
• The Molecular Basis of Acinetobacter baumannii Cadmium Toxicity and Resistance September 8, 2021
  Acinetobacter species are ubiquitous Gram-negative bacteria that can be found in water, in soil, and as commensals of the human skin. The successful inhabitation of Acinetobacter species in diverse environments is primarily attributable to the expression of an arsenal of stress resistance determinants, which includes an extensive repertoire of metal ion efflux systems. Metal ion […]
  Saleh F Alquethamy
• Identification of Tse8 as a Type VI secretion system toxin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa that targets the bacterial transamidosome to inhibit protein synthesis in prey cells August 20, 2021
  The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a bacterial nanomachine that delivers toxic effectors to kill competitors or subvert some of their key functions. Here, we use transposon directed insertion-site sequencing to identify T6SS toxins associated with the H1-T6SS, one of the three T6SS machines found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This approach identified several putative toxin-immunity […]
  Laura M Nolan
• Splicing factor proline and glutamine rich intron retention, reduced expression and aggregate formation are pathological features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis July 21, 2021
  CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm dysregulation of SFPQ as a pathological feature of the central nervous system of ALS patients and indicate that investigation of the functional consequences of this pathology will provide insight into ALS biology.
  Alison L Hogan
• <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> Fatty Acid Desaturases Facilitate Survival in Distinct Environments June 8, 2021
  Maintaining optimal fluidity is essential to ensure adequate membrane structure and function under different environmental conditions. We apply integrated molecular approaches to characterize two desaturases (DesA and DesB) and define their specific roles in unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) production in Acinetobacter baumannii. Using a murine model, we reveal DesA to play a minor role in […]
  Felise G Adams