My project

Campylobacter jejuni is the most common cause of food-borne gastroenteritis i the western world. Human infections result from consumption of contaminated chicken and the incidence has increased in recent years. New interventions are needed to reduce the numbers of bacteria in the food-chain. UV-light is well known as germicidal but is highly mutagenic and problematic for continuous exposure in production facilities. C. jejuni is, however, uniquely sensitive to narrow spectrum visible blue light which is safe-in-use compared to UV. This project seeks to understand the molecular basis for this sensitivity. C. jejuni is a microaerophilic bacterium and we will test hypotheses for light-induced production of reactive oxygen species that may target specifically vulnerable enzymes, using a range of biochemical, gene and protein expression assays. This interdisciplinary project will provide training in molecular microbiological techniques including mutant construction and global gene expression analysis, as well as the application of photochemical techniques to a biological problem.

Connect

Not yet available.