Molecular biology of mycobacteria
The Speer lab is devoted to identify and develop new intervention strategies to fight bacterial infections.
We perform compound screening campaigns as part of the early steps of drug discovery to identify promising scaffold that can serve as basis for future antibiotics. Together with organic chemists we develop compounds with improved efficacy and safety profiles. Next to macrophage infection studies our lab sets a special focus on the zebrafish infection model of tuberculosis to evaluate and screen for novel compounds. With the help of genetic approaches we aim to determine and characterize the molecular targets of antibacterial compounds. Furthermore, we develop genetic tools based on CRISPR-Cas9 to identify weak spots of mycobacterial pathogens during infection that can serve as point of attack for chemical compounds. In order to gain a better understanding of nutrient and efficient antibiotic uptake in mycobacteria, we study and characterize outer membrane proteins of M. tuberculosis.
Research team
- Eva Habjan; PhD student characterizing novel antibacterial compounds during infection studies.
- Vien Ho; PhD student focused on drug target identification and validation in mycobacteria.
- Beatriz Izquierdo Lafuente; PhD student studying antibiotic and nutrient uptake across the mycobacterial outer membrane.
- Theo Verboom; Technician specialized in zebrafish infection studies.
News
- Vien Ho (PhD student) got his first manuscript accepted in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC) focusing on pro-drug activation. aac. 2021 Mar 18;65(4):e01445-20. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01445-20.
- Beatriz Izquierdo Lafuente (PhD student) published her first paper in mBio focusing on the transport of virulent factors across the mycobacterial cell wall. mBio. 2021 Mar 2;12(2):e02983-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02983-20.
- Eva Habjan (PhD student) presented her work on drug screening in the zebra fish infection model at the annual AIMMS research day and received the first price for the best student presentation.