Project: Targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae virulence by exploiting weaknesses in metal ion homeostasis
McDevitt group
Antibiotics are in crisis, with new treatment strategies desperately needed. The highly antimicrobial resistant pathogen carbapenem-resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae has been highlighted by the WHO as one of the highest priority bacterial pathogens for new therapeutic solutions. In the absence of a vaccine against K. pneumoniae and resistance to in-development novel antibiotics, it is imperative that alternative treatment strategies are developed. This project will identify and characterise newly discovered pathways used by this pathogen to obtain essential nutritional metals and subvert host antimicrobial mechanisms. By understanding these pathways, new therapeutic strategies exploiting weaknesses in K. pneumoniae metal ion homeostasis will be developed.
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McDevitt group
4 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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Defining the metal ion homeostatic pathways of Klebsiella pneumoniae
PhD/MPhil, Honours
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Breaking bacterial antibiotic resistance using ionobiotics
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Bacterial subversion strategies to resist host-mediated copper stress
PhD/MPhil, Honours
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Targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae virulence by exploiting weaknesses in metal ion homeostasis
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.