Antibiotic resistant superbugs: it’s all about the clones

Abstract:
Combatting increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the grand challenges facing human health. Globally, bacterial AMR was directly attributable to 1.27M deaths in 2019, with the combined impact of increasing rates of AMR in all bacterial pathogens and a paucity in the development of new antibiotics predicted to dramatically expand the magnitude of this problem. Increasing AMR threatens to make our current antibiotics ineffective, leading to a lack of treatments, even for infections that have been treatable for decades. A primary example is increasing rates of AMR in uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), the primary cause of urinary tract infections and sepsis. This seminar will discuss our recent discoveries describing the genetics, genomics, virulence and pathogenesis of antibiotic resistant UPEC clones – superbugs that are driving the global AMR problem.

Speaker:
Professor Mark Schembri
Director and Group Leader, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland;
President, Australian Society for Microbiology; Fellow, ASM & AAM

Biography:
Professor Mark Schembri is the Director of the IMB Centre for Superbug Solutions at UQ. His expertise lies in molecular microbiology, antibiotic resistance and bacterial pathogenesis. Prof Schembri’s research investigates the genetics, genomics and virulence of antibiotic resistant uropathogenic E. coli that cause urinary tract, bloodstream and CNS infections, diseases of major significance to human health. His research has led to seminal discoveries on the role of uropathogenic E. coli adhesins in disease and the evolution of antibiotic resistant clones. Prof Schembri is President of the Australian Society for Microbiology and a founding Director of the Urinary Tract Infection Global Alliance – an international society of clinical, research and biomedical professionals.