###A responsive delivery platform for diagnosis and treatment of bacterial infections
Project ID: 2228bd1104 (You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Healthcare Technologies
UCL Lead department: School of Pharmacy
Lead Supervisor: Chris Morris
Project Summary:
There are 300,000+ healthcare associated infections in England annually, at a cost of £ 1 billion. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for 17% of HCAIs. 80-90% of infections are caused by uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) that have a propensity to escape the urinary tract and cause life-threatening sepsis if left untreated. There is an urgent need to develop better healthcare technologies to diagnose and treat these infections.
This project will involve the development of a dual-purpose platform that will aid the diagnosis of UPEC infection and simultaneously initiate treatment by triggered release of antibiotics.
This multidisciplinary project will be co-supervised by Drs Morris & Dickman in the School of Pharmacy and will span the interface between synthetic chemistry and biochemistry/microbiology. Techniques will include organic synthesis, structure-guided design, recombinant protein production, enzymology and microbiology testing.
Opportunity exists to travel to collaborator labs for testing against clinical isolates and to interact with industrial collaborators working in the field.
We are looking for a motivated candidate with a passion for multidisciplinary team working and antimicrobial resistance. A background and experience in synthetic chemistry is strongly desirable and an interest in biochemistry/microbiology would be a further advantage.