Location: | London |
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Salary: | £45,593 to £53,630 per annum |
Hours: | Full Time |
Contract Type: | Fixed-Term/Contract |
Placed On: | 13th June 2024 |
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Closes: | 10th July 2024 |
Job Ref: | MED04629 |
Location: South Kensington Campus
Job Summary
The research program in molecular bacteriology, led by Prof. José R Penadés, will analyse the impact of phages and phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) on the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Bacteriophage-mediated gene transfer is a major evolutionary force occurring by two well-described mechanisms: generalised and specialised transduction. The Penadés lab has recently discovered that phages and PICIs engage in lateral transduction, the most powerful mode of transduction described to date. In this project, analysing important pathogens, we will investigate whether these ground-breaking strategies of gene transfer are widespread in nature. We anticipate that the results of this study will challenge basic and fundamental concepts of phage and PICI biology, which will be revisited here. Moreover, the proposed research has the potential to fundamentally restructure our understanding of the roles of phages and phage satellites in bacterial evolution, including the development of antimicrobial resistance and virulence in clinical strains.
Selected papers from the lab
Chee MSJ, Serrano E, Chiang YN, Harling-Lee J, Man R, Bacigalupe R, Fitzgerald JR, Penadés JR*, Chen J*. 2023. Dual pathogenicity island transfer by piggybacking lateral transduction. Cell 186:3414–3426.e16.
Fillol-Salom A, Rostøl JT, Ojiogu AD, Chen J, Douce G, Humphrey S, Penadés JR. 2022. Bacteriophages benefit from mobilizing pathogenicity islands encoding immune systems against competitors. Cell 185:3248-3262.e20.
Chen J, Quiles-Puchalt N, Chiang YN, Bacigalupe R, Fillol-Salom A, Chee MSJ, Fitzgerald JR, Penadés JR. 2018. Genome hypermobility by lateral transduction. Science 362:207–212.
Tormo-Más MÁ, Mir I, Shrestha A, Tallent SM, Campoy S, Lasa I, Barbé J, Novick RP, Christie GE, Penadés JR. 2010. Moonlighting bacteriophage proteins derepress staphylococcal pathogenicity islands. Nature 465:779–782.
Duties and responsibilities
Essential requirements
Further Information
This is a Fulltime, fixed term position for 3 years based at South Kensington Campus.
Please complete an online application to be considered.
Should you require any further details on the role please contact: José R Penadés, j.penades@imperial.ac.uk
For technical issues when applying online please email sjobs@ic.ac.uk
Closing date: 10/07/2024
To apply, visit www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs and search by the job reference MED04629
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