Project: Mapping elemental fluxes during host-pathogen interaction
McDevitt group
During infection, the body modulates the concentrations of essential metal ions to prosecute antimicrobial activity and aid immune clearance of the pathogen. This project will investigate which inorganic elements change in abundance during infection by using next generation laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to directly image infected tissues. How these changes impact bacterial pathogens will then be examined using a suite of fluorescently tagged reporter strains that have altered metal handling properties. Through these approaches this project will reveal the interplay between pathogenic bacteria and inorganic chemical components at the host-pathogen interface.
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McDevitt group
2 vacancies
Research in the McDevitt group seeks to understand how bacterial pathogens acquire and use metal ions and how this shapes the host-pathogen interaction during infection.
McDevitt group Current Projects
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Mapping elemental fluxes during host-pathogen interaction
PhD/MPhil, Honours
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Defining the metal ion homeostatic pathways of Klebsiella pneumoniae
PhD/MPhil, Honours
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Breaking bacterial antibiotic resistance using ionobiotics
PhD/MPhil, Honours
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Bacterial subversion strategies to resist host-mediated copper stress
PhD/MPhil, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.