ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
The continuous emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of Gram-negative bacteria is one of the biggest health threats of our time. We focus on critically important mechanism of resistance, such as the production of β-lactamase enzymes and mobile colistin resistance (MCR) proteins, both of which compromize the longevity of last-resort antibiotics. We study the evolution and dissemination of these resistance determinants and we aim to develop next-generation approaches for incapacitating them. A particular interest of ours is the biogenesis of these proteins and whether their unavoidable journey from the cytoplasm to the cell envelope could be exploited in future therapeutic interventions.
INTERBACTERIAL COMPETITION
Bacteria are "social" organisms that live in dense communities. In these polymicrobial settings, each strain has to ensure that it will secure valuable resources, such as space and nutrients, in order to survive. As a result, competitive interactions between bacteria are incredibly common. We have a track record in studying the production of toxins that mediate interbacterial competition, with a particular focus on a class of large diffusible proteins called bacteriocins. Our organism of choice is Escherichia coli, which produces colicins toxins, often encoded on small plasmids. We study the regulation of toxin production, the processes and genes that enable colicin release into the extracellular environment, as well as the behaviors that toxin production can generate at a population level. By further understanding the organization and capabilities of colicinogenic plasmids we hope to be able to repurpose them for biotechnological applications.