Project: Role of O-linked glycosylation system across the Burkholderia genus
Scott group
Protein glycosylation, the chemical addition of sugars to proteins, is an important but poorly understood aspect of bacterial physiology. Within the Burkholderia genus, we have discovered a highly conserved O-linked glycosylation system. The conservation of this system across pathogenic and non-pathogenic species suggests that glycosylation plays a far more fundamental role in the physiology of Bukholderia than previously thought. The goal of this project is to understand the role, diversity and machinery responsible for glycosylation in Bukholderia species. By studying glycosylation within Burkholderia we aim to gain a fundamental understanding of this biological process and how it contributes to bacterial survival. The long-term goal of this project is to learn how we can target protein glycosylation to generate new antimicrobial agents, and how we can exploit bacterial glycosylation systems to generate novel glycoconjugates such as vaccines.
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Scott group
2 vacancies
The Scott group focuses on understanding microbial mediate protein glycosylation and microbial pathogenesis. Glycosylation is a post-translational modification, which allows pathogens to radically alter the function of proteins both within microbes and the host cells they infect. Within a range of pathogens such as malaria, salmonella and Burkholderia cenocepacia, protein glycosylation can be used for both defensive and offensive processes. Using mass spectrometry-based approaches, the Scott group seeks to develop methodologies to identify and track microbial glycosylation events and investigate how microbes subvert host proteomes leading to disease.
Scott group Current Projects
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Development of novel proteomic tools to explore Burkholderia pathogenesis
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Role of O-linked glycosylation system across the Burkholderia genus
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.