Bio21 Molecular Science & Biotechnology Institute - Infectious Diseases
 https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/tags/infectious-diseases%E2%80%A8 en Media Release: Legions of immune cells in the lung keep Legionella at bay https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/media-release-legions-immune-cells-lung-keep-legionella-bay <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/2016-06-15-Bio21News_Ian-van-Driel_Andrew-Brown_web.jpg?itok=MskfLf6r" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even"> <p>A team of specialist researchers in Melbourne believe they have found a major response that helps keep the Legionella infection at bay.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even"> <p>Immunologists and microbiologists from the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity – a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital – have led a study that defined a new cell type responsible for turning the attack back on the bacteria.</p> <p>With this discovery, they have dissected the complex roles of legions of immune cells that interact to destroy the bacterium. Legionella pneumophila is the bacterium that causes legionnaire’s disease.</p> <p>The bacterium preferentially grows within pond amoebae, but can ‘accidentally’ cause serious lung infections in susceptible humans. It is not passed from person to person, but people contract the disease through inhaling contaminated water, in the form of water vapour (small droplets) produced by air-conditioning units, spas and other water sources.</p> <p>Legionella causes disease when it invades and destroys our amoeba-like macrophages in the lungs. PhD student at the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Institute, Andrew Brown, used a recent Belgian study that characterised immune cell populations in inflamed tissues as a basis to look at what was going on in the lung when it was infected with Legionella bacteria. He uncovered a new population of immune cells that was playing a significant role: the monocyte-derived cells (MCs) and showed that MCs responded to Legionella within 24 hours of infection and were present in over 10-fold the numbers of macrophages in the lung by 48 hours after infection.</p> <p>Rather than the macrophages, it was the MCs that were ‘gobbling up’ and controlling the bacteria. “This was a surprising find,” Mr Brown said.</p> <p>“As immunologists, we usually look at what is happening in the immune organs, such as the bone marrow, lymph nodes and spleen, but in this study, we decided to look at what was happening in the tissue at the site of infection,” said <a href="/content/van-driel-group">Professor Ian van Driel, University of Melbourne lead researcher at the Bio21 Institute</a>.</p> <p>MCs are part of the immune system’s first line of defence against the bacteria and in this case responded to the infection by secreting a chemical messenger called interleukin-12. This in turn drove T cells to produce large amounts of interferon gamma, another powerful chemical messenger of the immune system that then fed back and instructed the MCs to kill the engulfed Legionella bacteria. All this happened within 48 hours.</p> <p>“With a knowledge of the immune cell circuitry involved in defence against Legionella, we can understand what an effective immune response looks like,” said Professor Elizabeth Hartland, University of Melbourne lead researcher at the Doherty Institute. “Knowing this, we can now focus on how to manipulate and optimise the immune response to fight infection.</p> <p>“With the rise of antibiotic resistance, this knowledge provides avenues for a different approach to fighting acute lung infections, by strengthening the immune system, as well as dispensing antimicrobial agents. “It may also allow us to give patients a more accurate prognosis for the infection, giving us vital information about when to use antibiotics.”</p> <p><a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-immune-legions-fighting-legionnaires-disease">Read feature story on University of Melbourne's Pursuit website.</a></p> <h3><span>More Information</span></h3> <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even">Anne Rahilly</div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-field-phone field-type-text field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even">+61 3 9035 5380</div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-field-staff-mobile field-type-text field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even">+61 432 758 734 <p><span id="7fcabfe4911afec8b5b8fd80ef54fc7b1cfad1d3"><span class="spamspan"><span class="u">arahilly</span> [at] <span class="d">unimelb.edu.au</span><span class="e"></span></span></span></p> <!--class="mailto"--><p></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-field-staff-twitter field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even"> <p><a class="ext" href="https://twitter.com/@uommedia" target="_blank">@uommedia</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div></div> Wed, 15 Jun 2016 06:19:21 +0000 floder 197 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au Image of the Month: Ghana https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/image-month-ghana <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/2015-06-19-Bio21Photocomp_Ghana-3_KTiedje_web.jpg?itok=APjvRrLQ" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Image: Residents of a community in the Upper East Region Ghana, where a five-year NIH/FIC funded cohort study is being conducted to determine the impacts of seasonality and malaria control programs on chronic <em>Plasmodium falciparum </em>infections.</p> <p>Photographer: Kathryn Tiedje</p> <p>Dr. Kathryn Tiedje, a Research Fellow in Prof. Karen Day’s research team, heads to the Upper East Region of Ghana in a week's time to assist with coordinating field research activities with collaborators at the Navrongo Health Research Centre (Ghana), Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (Ghana) and the University of Chicago (USA). She will be there until the end of October assisting with coordinating the current (end of wet season) malaria reservoir survey data collection. This is part of the <a href="/day-group">Day Group</a>'s longitudinal cohort project Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Fogarty International Centre in the USA, their investigation aims to eliminate <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em>, a parasite that causes over half a million deaths annually, with the majority of this burden in Sub- Saharan Africa. </p> <p>The grant supports a multidisciplinary team including malaria geneticists, bioinformaticians, mathematical biologists, clinical/molecular epidemiologists and entomologists. They are interested in better understand the complexities of malaria transmission in the context of the parasite’s genetic diversity in chronic carriers of infection. These chronic carriers constitute the reservoir of infection that continually fuels the spread of malaria to mosquitoes making it difficult to interrupt transmission and eliminate malaria. The project uses a longitudinal cohort study design to determine the impacts of seasonality and malaria control programs on<em> P. falciparum</em> genetic diversity. With this study design, their goal is to create a conceptual shift in malaria control practices, as current public health strategies do not take parasite diversity into consideration when they are monitored and evaluated.</p> </div></div></div> Tue, 01 Sep 2015 03:36:35 +0000 floder 132 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au 'Humpty Dumpty' program 'Bandage' helps piece DNA sequences back together again and wins 2015 iAwards https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/humpty-dumpty-program-bandage-helps-piece-dna-sequences-back-together-again-and-wins-2015-iawards <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/Bandage3_web.jpg?itok=UzUFCFeR" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>During his Masters of Bioinformatics degree, Ryan Wick was studying antibiotic resistance in bacteria, such as Salmonella.</p> <p><img alt="" height="332" src="/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/images/DSC00064.jpg" style="float: right;" width="221" />He set about analysing the bacterial genome – all of its DNA - in order to find the antibiotic-resistant mutations that give it a survival advantage.</p> <p>The process of DNA sequencing chops up bacterial DNA into millions of small fragments.</p> <p>Like the remains of Humpty Dumpty, the challenge is then to put all the fragments back together again.</p> <p>Ryan used genome assembler programs which generate pages of DNA letters: Ts and As and Gs, and Cs, representing the nucleotide bases.</p> <p>But what did it all mean? How did they fit together and where should he start looking for the antibiotic resistant genes?  These reams of letters were not ‘human’ readable!</p> <p>Ryan enquired amongst his colleagues in the lab about which programs they used to analyse the data, called an ‘assembly graph’.</p> <p>“I assumed there would be a program,” explained Ryan. “There was nothing out there.”</p> <p>So, he set about creating the program that he needed. “I wanted to make something I could use,” he explains.</p> <p>‘Bandage’<strong> (a </strong><strong>B</strong>ioinformatics-<strong>A</strong>pplication-for-<strong>N</strong>avigating-<strong>D</strong>e-novo- -<strong>A</strong>ssembly-<strong>G</strong>raphs-<strong>E</strong>asily) is a program that makes it possible to put the pieces back together again.</p> <p>For his invention, Ryan Wick, MSc (Bioinformatics) student with the <a href="http://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/content/holt-group" target="_blank">Holt group</a>, was named the 2015 National Winner at the iAwards, 27 August. <a href="http://iawards.com.au/index.php/winners/2015-winners/2015-national-winners" target="_blank">The iAwards</a> recognise Australian achievements in technology innovations and are judged by the ICT industry.</p> <p>The Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (<a href="https://www.vlsci.org.au/news/bandage" target="_blank">VLSCI) reports</a> that the major value of the application is that it “visualises genome assembly graphs in an interactive way, providing insights into genetic data that were not previously possible, with potential to provide significant benefits to the health sector.”</p> <p>‘Bandage’ represents the assembled DNA fragments, of varying length, in a visual way and shows which sequences potentially connect to which others.</p> <p>Bacterial DNA in its original form occurs in a circular chromosome. Due to the many repeats of small fragments it is not possible to reassemble a perfect circle in the exact order that it occurred in the organism, explains Ryan. However, Bandage is useful for visualising what fragments may connect to each other. It’s then up to the researcher to ‘detangle’ the fragments.</p> <p>“The image created by Bandage sometimes looks a bit like a tangle of rubber bands, hence the name “Bandage”,” explains Ryan.</p> <p><img alt="" height="167" src="/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/images/Bandage1%20(3).png" width="328" /></p> <p>Interestingly, it’s in these tangles or knots of small repeated nucleotide fragments, where antibiotic resistance genes are commonly found.</p> <p>“It’s a starting point that helps you know where to look,” explains Ryan. Also, there is a certain element of reproducibility of the images for sequenced genomes of particular species.</p> <p>Whether it is to discover antibiotic resistant genes in bacteria, or to find unique mutations in cancer cells that cause them to metastasize, the ‘Bandage’ program provides a means of visualising genomic data, to make it possible to observe patterns and to understand how genetic sequences fit together and influence each other.</p> <p>Bandage is Open Source software, that can be used and downloaded free of charge. “I am excited that researchers are already using and modifying the software for their own unique situations,” said Ryan. “I actually felt a bit out of place at the iAwards,” adds Ryan -<br /> “this invention is free and I did not set out to make a profit.”</p> <p><a href="https://rrwick.github.io/Bandage/">To learn more about BANDAGE and to download the program, follow this link.</a> [<a href="https://rrwick.github.io/Bandage/]">https://rrwick.github.io/Bandage/]</a></p> <p>Ryan developed Bandage under the guidance of VLSCI’s Acting Director, Professor Justin Zobel; VLSCI power user and Bio21 Group Leader, Dr Kat Holt; and Dr Mark Schultz from the Holt lab.</p> <p>By Florienne Loder and Maggie Scott</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 05:51:50 +0000 floder 131 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au Media Release: Toxoplasma parasite’s greedy appetite might be its downfall https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/media-release-toxoplasma-parasite%E2%80%99s-greedy-appetite-might-be-its-downfall <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/2015-08-12_News_Toxoplasma_web.jpg?itok=84jnYDfV" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>13 August 2015</p> <p>Researchers are a step closer to developing drug targets for Toxoplasmosis, after gaining insight into its unique feeding behaviour.</p> <p><em>Toxoplasma gondii </em>is estimated to chronically infect nearly one-third of the world's population, causing the condition Toxoplasmosis. It is most commonly associated with handling cat feaces and is a particular threat to pregnant women and immune-compromised individuals, such as HIV/AIDS patients</p> <p>It may even be implicated in mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and depression.</p> <p><em><img alt="" height="287" src="/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/images/Toxolpasma-gondii.jpg" style="float: left;" width="276" /></em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><em>Toxoplasma</em> has an unusual ability infect any warm-blooded animal cell, from immune cells to brain and muscle cells.</p> <p>A study led by researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute has shown, for the first time, the extraordinary capacity of <em>Toxoplasma </em>to infect and grow within these cells, is due to its very broad culinary tastes. The research was published today in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.</p> <p>Scavenging nutrients, such as glucose, from the host cell is one of the biggest challenges that microbial pathogens face.</p> <p>Lead author Martin Blume and colleagues demonstrated that <em>Toxoplasma</em> is able to steal and utilize a range of energy-rich nutrients from the host cell, allowing it to adapt to different host cell niches.</p> <p>“Unlike other pathogens that tend to only use one nutrient at a time, <em>Toxoplasma gondii</em>, can use multiple nutrients at the same time. This may give these parasites enormous flexibility as well as the ability to grow in a range of different host cell types,” explains Professor Malcolm McConville, senior author and Director, Bio21 Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.</p> <p>While being adaptable is good, it comes at the cost of having to make all of the enzymes need to metabolise these nutrients all of the time, an apparently wasteful exercise. However, the researchers have shown that Toxoplasma has repurposed some of these enzymes so that they improve nutrient catabolism regardless of the nutrient being used.</p> <p><em>Toxoplasma</em> has managed to tweak its metabolism in a way that allows it to be both more adaptable and more efficient, allowing it to colonize a new animal or human host and grow very rapidly.</p> <p>This survival advantage may also turn out to be its Achilles’ Heel. The researchers show that at least one of the enzymes that is switched on all of the time, TgFBP2, is also needed all of the time even when parasites are using nutrients that are not normally catabolized by the enzyme. When the function of TgFBP2 is blocked, <em>Toxoplasma</em> is no longer infective.</p> <p>This new insight makes it possible to develop drugs that specifically target and block TgFBP2 and prevent acute Toxoplasma infection.  </p> <div> <p align="center">For interviews, contact Professor Malcolm McConville, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Melbourne on <strong>0478 408 681.</strong></p> <p align="center">Alternatively contact Jane Gardner, External Relations, University Services: 8344 0181/ 0411 758 984 </p> </div> </div></div></div> Wed, 12 Aug 2015 04:55:48 +0000 floder 126 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au How Bio21 researchers helped Elizabeth Blackburn VCE students do some real science https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/how-bio21-researchers-helped-elizabeth-blackburn-vce-students-do-some-real-science <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/2015-07-21_Bio21-School-Engagement_EBBS_web_Claire-Bolge.jpg?itok=_zXeQGIv" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Period 1 – Maths</p> <p>Period 2 – Chemistry</p> <p>Period 3 - Cure Ebola</p> <p>Period 4 - English.</p> <p>It’s not a typical class schedule. But then, the Elizabeth Blackburn School of Science (EBSS) is not a typical high school. While most would-be scientists are stuck in the classroom, EBSS students are collaborating with working scientists to do real science, through a VCE subject with a difference.</p> <p>The Extended Investigations VCE subject challenges Year 11 EBSS students to take on a year-long research project, working with mentors from the University of Melbourne and the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute.</p> <p>One of these students, Ryan Huang, is researching the effectiveness of several potential treatments for Ebola, under the supervision of Ashley Callahan, a research assistant investigating Dengue transmission with <a href="/hoffmann-group">Professor Ary Hoffman’s Bio21-based lab team</a>. Ryan is comparing data from animal trials for three possible Ebola treatments to work out which treatment is most effective.</p> <p>If that wasn’t challenging enough for a Year 11 student Ryan would like to expand his research project to include recent data on human trials, rather than relying on data from animal trials alone.</p> <p>Ryan and Ashley meet weekly during class time allocated to the subject, but also keep in regular email contact outside of school hours. Ryan says the guidance of an experienced researcher in Ashley really helped him develop his research project.</p> <p>“Ashley has taught me how to structure and sort through my information, especially on how to write reports, and she’s also helped me find some research articles, journals and papers”, says Ryan.</p> <p> “She’s also shared with me some of her experience in writing reports and doing oral presentations.”  </p> <p>Fellow student Wesley Tran echoes these sentiments. He is being mentored by University of Melbourne Masters of Bioinformatics student Damien Zammit on his research into optimal lighting for non-real time computer visual tracking.</p> <p>This sounds like a complicated project, but Wesley politely assures us that the research “is actually very simple”. He says a good example of this kind of research is a tennis match, in which the landing position of the ball is tracked using the Hawk-Eye system. If it is too bright or too dark, then the computer won’t be able to see, and thus track, the movement of the ball.   </p> <p>He has high praise for Damien’s help.</p> <p>“Not only has he helped me with my research question, he also helped me with other important skills I needed to continue my research, for example, critical thinking skills and journal reading,” said Wesley.</p> <p>“It’s just very great to have such a mentor.”</p> <p>Ashley and Damien understand the importance of good mentorship for aspiring scientists, having both benefited from similar programs as students themselves.</p> <p>Ashley credits a high school program that placed her in a science laboratory at her local university in Canada with helping to refine her interest in science, while Damien is an alumnus of University High, which hosts the Elizabeth Blackburn School of Science.</p> <p>Given their choice of school, it is not surprising that Ryan and Wesley are long-term science enthusiasts. They both appreciate the opportunity to focus their academic efforts on the subjects they love, with like-minded peers.</p> <p>“It’s a really close-knit community here,” said Ryan, who transferred to EBSS this year.</p> <p>Wesley, who has been at the University High campus for his entire secondary schooling, agrees.</p> <p>“It just seemed really nice to be able to come to a science and mathematical school … science can explain so many things,” he said.</p> <p>“I’m passionate about it.”</p> <p>Ashley and Damien share not only their apprentices’ passion for science, but also their appreciation for the mentorship program. They say being mentors has allowed them to improve their communication and leadership skills through sharing their knowledge and supporting the students.</p> <p>They are proud of their mentees and the efforts they’ve put into their research projects.</p> <p>“I am very impressed, Ryan’s a very smart student and he’s becoming an expert in Ebola,” said Ashley, with a broad smile for her shy student.</p> <p>As Ryan, Wesley and their fellow students continue on their paths towards further study and perhaps careers in science, perhaps they will recognise the importance that mentors have played in their career progression, and will themselves become mentors for enthusiastic young science students.</p> <p>By Claire Bolge, Communications and Events Officer, Faculty of Science</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>   </p> </div></div></div> Tue, 21 Jul 2015 05:34:46 +0000 floder 115 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au Media Release: Genome of dangerous superbug - Klebsiella pneumoniae - decoded. https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/media-release-genome-dangerous-superbug-klebsiella-pneumoniae-decoded <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/sites/www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au/files/styles/page/public/field/image/2015-06-19-Bio21-Media-Kat-Holt_Casamento_web.jpg?itok=_zAnugVW" width="960" height="440" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Photographer: Peter Casamento</p> <p>23 June 2015</p> <p>An international team of scientists, led by the University of Melbourne, has decoded the genes of <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em> (KP), a bacterium found in hospitals throughout the developing and developed world.</p> <p>A paper published today in the journal <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> involved 37 research institutions around the world and bacterial samples from six countries, representing 300 strains.</p> <p>The study is the largest ever genetically-decoded collection of this bacterial pathogen and gives scientists access to valuable data to stay ahead of KP evolution, as fears grow about the emergence of strains that are both highly infectious and antibiotic-resistant.  </p> <p>The drug-resistant KP strain recently seen in Victoria, known as KPC, has caused significant problems in America and Europe for over a decade. There have been outbreaks in South America, Africa and Asia with the hyper-virulent strains causing serious infections in the local populations.</p> <p>Until recently, the scientific community hasn’t had much information on this bacterium. This is the first large-scale study that uses genomic technology to understand what this organism is and what it’s capable of.<br /> Researchers are concerned, given the ease with which different strains of the bacteria can share genetic information, that antibiotic resistance genes may soon appear in more infectious <em>Klebsiella </em>strains, creating an untreatable and highly infectious bacterial population.</p> <p>Co-author of the paper, University of Melbourne Professor Dick Strugnell from the Doherty Institute, said this research provides a vital starting point to understand and track the evolution of the bug and even anticipate its antibiotic resistance..</p> <p>“KP is commonly found in the environment and can acquire resistance genes, become established in hospitals, and then become a major health problem. The bacterium exists as a diverse population, some of which can cause severe disease in humans,” Prof Strugnell said.</p> <p>“The bacterium has evolved a thick sticky sugar ‘coat' which stops it drying out.  This 'coat' contributes to the formation of 'biofilms' of the bacteria which are hard to remove from hospitals with traditional cleaning methods.”</p> <p> Lead-author <a href="/content/holt-group">Dr Kathryn Holt, of the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Institute</a>, says in most cases KP infects people who are already weakened by illness, but there is a real risk that the bacteria will evolve to become a significant threat to healthy individuals.</p> <p>“Almost any <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae </em>can cause an infection in someone who is already ill in hospital, but very few strains are virulent enough to affect a healthy person,” she said.</p> <p>“So far we have been extremely lucky in that most of the antibiotic-resistant strains are not highly virulent to humans. Unfortunately, Klebsiella strains are very good at swapping around genes that encode antibiotic resistance, so it’s probably just a matter of time before we see this.”</p> <p>“The bacterium is really good at evolving through acquiring new genes. We looked at 300 different strains and every second one we looked at was completely new, so that tells you there’s a lot of diversity out there and we don’t really have a handle on this at all.”</p> <p>Dr Holt says governments need to invest in learning more about KP because of the very real risk it will become both virulent and antibiotic resistant, and pose a threat to healthy individuals.</p> <p>“It’s so vital we build awareness of this particular bug. The superbug problem isn’t just about MRSA. There are multiple types of bacteria we need to worry about and KP is a big one.</p> <p>“We need more awareness at a political level. The Microbiological Diagnostic Unit at the Doherty Institute headed by Professor Ben Howden is leading the work to track KPC, but more investment from the Victorian and the Federal Governments in research and surveillance for these drug resistant organisms could go a long way.”</p> <p>In Victoria, older generation drugs that can have adverse effects have been used as a last defence to combat the current KPC outbreak. However, the KPC bacteria in Greece and Italy have already developed a resistance to this medication.</p> <p>“We’re worried about seeing that happen here. It’s so important we get a better understanding of how KP actually spreads between the environment, people and hospitals and better monitoring.”</p> <p> The study provides a foundation for further research into how these bacteria adapt to new niches and become more diverse. The findings of the paper could also prove useful for designing vaccines to prevent, rather than treat, KP infections.</p> <p><em>The study is the result of an international collaboration with genome sequencing conducted at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge (UK) and data analysis conducted at the University of Melbourne using supercomputing resources of the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VSLCI).</em></p> <p><strong>Notes to Editors</strong></p> <p> Publication details<br /> Holt KE, et al.<br /> (2015). <em>Genomic analysis of diversity, population structure, virulence, and antimicrobial resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae, an urgent threat to public health. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</em></p> <p><strong>Data availability</strong><br /> The data is available for interactive viewing at <a href="https://owa.unimelb.edu.au/OWA/redir.aspx?SURL=4D4Hn7b8rZRP8IsENMcHeKrUO49SaEmo3Pa9kyWS-VEX0fNc_nnSCGgAdAB0AHAAOgAvAC8AZwBvAG8ALgBnAGwALwBYADYAbQBzAHYAOQA.&amp;URL=http%3a%2f%2fgoo.gl%2fX6msv9" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/X6msv9</a>.</p> <p><strong>Funding</strong><br /> This work was funded by: the NHMRC of Australia, fellowship #628930 and #1061409, Program Grant #606788; the Wellcome Trust, grant #098051 to Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, grant #089275/H/09/Z for the Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (co-funded by the Royal Society); the Victorian Life Science Computation Initiative grant #VR0082.</p> <p>For the latest news from the University of Melbourne, go to <a href="http://www.newsroom.melbourne.edu/">www.newsroom.melbourne.edu</a>, follow us on Twitter: @uommedia, or contact us on +61 3 8344 4123 or <span class="spamspan"><span class="u">news</span> [at] <span class="d">media.unimelb.edu.au</span></span> </p> </div></div></div> Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:00:00 +0000 floder 79 at https://www.bio21.unimelb.edu.au