Development of a High Throughput Screening Method for Clostridioides difficile

The selected candidate will work on an exciting project with the Olaitan Research Group focused on developing a high-throughput genomic library of C. difficile to investigate stress defence responses and the molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance. The successful applicant will employ cutting-edge approaches in molecular microbiology, genomics, bioinformatics, and high-throughput phenotypic screening.

The Olaitan Research Group is currently focusing on understanding how Clostridioides difficile is able to survive reactive chemical species that it encounters in the host and how this can impact its pathogenesis. We are also seeking to understand the emergence of antibiotic resistance to current C. difficile drugs and how to circumvent this problem. To investigate these, we employ various approaches, including molecular genetics, omics (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics), transposon mutagenesis, infection modeling (vertebrate and invertebrate), and drug screening.

Our long-term goal is to leverage the fundamental knowledge gained from our studies for the development of alternative therapeutic agents to combat the growing problem of bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance.

Fields of research

• Bioinformatics/Computational biology

• Molecular microbiology

• Anaerobic microbiology