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Slade Jensen - Research Interests
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I am interested in microbial evolution and the mechanisms that facilitate genetic exchange between bacteria (horizontal gene transfer). Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in the evolution of new properties, such as pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance, and is therefore a major component of bacterial evolution. Other interests include bacterial cell division and the application of fluorescence microscopy in studying the cellular location of both proteins and DNA elements during a bacterial cell cycle.

Staphylococci are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and most clinical strains contain multiple resistance plasmids. Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA elements that play a central role in facilitating HGT, and therefore promote the acquisition and spread of antimicrobial resistance determinants. At present, our research focuses on the staphylococcal multiresistance plasmids pSK1 and pSK41, and we are interested in characterising the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the stable maintenance of these plasmids in the absence of selective pressure (i.e. antimicrobial agents). Specific areas of research include:

  • Molecular characterisation of plasmid partitioning systems
  • Global transcriptional regulation of plasmid maintenance functions, such as plasmid partitioning and conjugative transfer
  • Determining if plasmid encoded factors regulate the expression of host encoded functions, and vice versa
 
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