Take a look at our current research projects, and opportunities to join the group.
Current projects:
PolyForm Future Leaders Fellowship: a unified approach to biodegradable polymers for fabric care formulations
Working in partnership with Procter and Gamble, this project aims to transform both the performance and environmental footprint of an essential human activity – the cleaning of textiles and hard surfaces. The PolyForm team are developing the fundamental capabilities for sustainable, high-performance cleaning by developing new tools, models and synthetic routes to generate novel sustainably-sourced polymers for formulation within consumer goods products.
Development of tools to detect and differentiate pathogens
Modern healthcare has enabled vast improvements in human life expectancy and quality of life, but a significant barrier to further improvements in treatments of many diseases is the lack of rapid diagnostic tests to enable their timely identification. The development of sensors to rapidly detect bacteria and other pathogens would enable earlier diagnosis, and more appropriate treatment, for a range of infectious diseases, as well as presenting opportunities to detect these pathogens in the environment and prevent their transmission. Within this interdisciplinary project, we are developing polymer based biosensing platforms to detect bacterial proteins.
Upcoming opportunities to join the group:
We welcome enquiries about research opportunities in the group at all levels. Contact Clare to discuss potential projects.
Postdoctoral Research Associate: University of York, Department of Biology
Working with Prof.Ville-Petri Friman, Dr Clare Mahon, Prof. John Girkin and Prof. James Moir
This EPSRC-funded project (‘Molecular probes to diagnose pathoadapatations in bacterial infections’) focuses on developing sensor arrays to detect pathoadaptations in P. aeruginosa, a clinically relevant respiratory pathogen. Chronic bacterial infections present a significant challenge to the NHS within hospital and social settings and contribute to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria evolve and diversify within hosts, particularly in immunocompromised individuals, leading to persistent infections. This process of 'pathoadaptation' leads to phenotypic changes such as altered protein expression, resistance to antimicrobials, or gain or loss of virulence traits. Reliable identification of pathoadaptations is crucial for successfully designing and treating bacterial infections.
This project will develop a novel molecular probe-based strategy to rapidly identify epidemiologically important pathotypes based on bacterial surface properties linked to virulence, host colonisation and antimicrobial resistance. We have created comprehensive, multidimensional glycopolymer sensor arrays which will be tested on TN-Seq mutant library and a large clinical collection of P. aeruginosa pathotypes associated with lung infections. Strain discrimination will be linked with phenotypic variation in P. aeruginosa virulence traits and underlying genetic differences. The sensor arrays will be incorporated within fibre-optic technology to characterise pathotypes when grown on surfaces in mixed populations typical for P. aeruginosa lung infections.
Informal enquiries welcome. Closing date 30th January 2024
PhD studentship: Polymer-based sensor arrays to detect bacterial pathoadaptation
Working with Dr Clare Mahon and Prof. John Girkin
This project focuses on developing sensor arrays to detect changes in the behaviour of bacteria during the course of prolonged infections. Chronic bacterial infections present a significant healthcare challenge and contribute to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria can evolve and diversify within hosts, particularly in immunocompromised individuals, leading to persistent, difficult to manage, infections. This process of 'pathoadaptation' leads to phenotypic changes such as altered protein expression, resistance to antimicrobials, or gain or loss of virulence traits. Reliable identification of these pathoadaptations would allow for more tailored treatment strategies and improve overall infection management.
We are developing a molecular probe-based strategy to rapidly identify epidemiologically important pathotypes based on bacterial surface properties linked to virulence, host colonisation and antimicrobial resistance. We have created multidimensional glycopolymer sensor arrays which can discriminate bacteria from different genera, along with genetically variable strains of the same pathogen. This project will expand upon our existing library of probes, with sensor arrays incorporated within fibre-optic technology to characterise pathotypes when grown on surfaces in mixed populations, in addition to exploring routes to precision drug delivery.
Informal enquires welcome.