Discovering Environmental Signals That Activate Prophages

Project description

Many bacteria carry dormant phages, called prophages, hidden in their genomes. We have developed many computational tools to find them, but we need new experimental science to understand what they are doing. These prophages can be activated by environmental signals such as antibiotics, metabolites, oxidative stress, or compounds produced by other microbes. When activated, prophages can replicate, kill their bacterial host, and alter the structure of microbial communities. Your project will test which chemical signals activate hidden phages in bacterial cultures or microbial communities. You will expose cultures to candidate inducers, measure phage activation using flow cytometry or sequencing, and help identify which phages respond to which signals. The project will provide new insight into how phages sense their environment and how we might control phage behaviour. Work in our friendly, supportive group that includes Honours Students, PhD Students, and Postdocs. We love to travel the world and present our research.

Further information

For more information about our research, check out our lab website and the FAME group's website

Assumed knowledge

You should have a background in microbiology, molecular biology, microbial ecology, biotechnology, environmental microbiology, or a related field. A basic understanding of bacteria, viruses, microbial growth, and DNA would be awesome. We'll teach you how to culture bacteria, use sterile technique, perform flow cytometry and phage assays, and conduct sequence analysis.  

Note: You need to register interest in projects from different supervisors (not a number of projects with the one supervisor).
You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.