Introduction to the topic
Antibiotics prevent millions of deaths each year and remain the primary treatment for potentially fatal bacterial infections. Yet inappropriate prescription rates and overuse of antibiotics have led to resistance that has created a global health emergency and kills at least 700,000 people a year. If no action is taken, it is predicted to increase to 10 million deaths per year by 2050.
Our attempt is to develop a new generation of precise antibiotics that kill only the target pathogenic bacteria without affecting the beneficial and commensal bacteria in the body.
Project details
The overall aim of our current projects is to establish a discovery platform that focuses on peptide-based antibiotics by exploiting unleashed advantages of peptides that interact with the bacterial envelope. Discovery of leads, therapeutic strategies, and antibiotic targets useful for treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, and elucidation of mechanism of action are core activities.
In particular, the antisense antibacterial concept and novel peptide carriers for efficient delivery of potential antibacterial compounds with inherently poor bacterial uptake will be explored.
Candidates should have a strong interest in lab work and be motivated to develop new skills including culturing bacteria in different condition, measuring peptide nucleic acid concentration and testing minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations of antibacterial peptide in bacteria.
Research Assistantship Hours
You will spend 180 hours directly engaged in research, together with 20 hours in co-curricular activities, during your RAship.
Field Studies: Culture & Language
As a co-curricular complement to your summer research, you will meet every Wednesday, together with faculty from the DIS European Humanities program, for a 6-week introduction to culture and language in Copenhagen.
Prerequisites
One year of biology and one year of chemistry at the university level.
Additional application required
You must submit an additional application through the Online Registration portal.
All application materials must be submitted by 23:59 Central European Time on March 15.
Faculty
Coming Soon
FacultyThe faculty teaching this course will be listed here soon.
More information about your Research Assistantship
Learn more about the Labs, Research, and Practicums Summer Session.