The goal of the Bacterial Structural Defence lab is to investigate how bacteria defend themselves to discover new potential targets for antibacterial agents.

Research themes:

1. Bacterial thiol redox pathways: We study proteins that form or break disulfide bonds and/or protect methionine or cysteine residues from oxidation within the bacterial periplasm. These proteins are important for bacterial fitness, formation of virulence factors and response to oxidative stress.
2. Biofilms: We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation, particularly in the urinary tract pathogen Proteus mirabilis. P. mirabilis uses an arsenal of virulence factors to colonise the urinary tract and is known for forming crystalline biofilms. We study the assembly, structure, and function of these virulence factors.

We use the following techniques to study our proteins of interest:

• Integrative structural biology, including protein X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy
• Membrane protein and redox biochemistry
• Bacteriology