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Beyond Antibiotics: New Therapeutic Approaches for Bacterial Infections

Bacterial infections: antimicrobial therapies group · Eduard Torrents

 

Research project


Bacterial infections remain a significant challenge to humanity that also has a considerable impact on all national health care system for its significant morbidity and mortality. This situation is becoming complicated by an increasingly aging and susceptible population and large numbers of bacterial isolates, which have developed resistance to all antibiotics. Bacteria that form biofilms and colonize or infect medical devices or wounds are particularly hard to treat as biofilms are inherently highly antibiotic resistant.

In our research group, we aim to investigate new strategies and approaches to treating bacterial chronic infections by understanding biofilm biology, not only from the microbiology point of view but also analyzing the tissue and cell environment where the bacteria form biofilms. Also, we will use different research field techniques (microbiology, cell biology, nanomedicine, bioengineering, biochemistry, etc) to find new methodologies based on nanomedicine to treat bacterial biofilms. Recently we have developed a method based on nanoparticles to disaggregate bacterial biofilms, and we are working in 3D systems to mimic the tissue environment for a bacterial biofilm growth to mimic the real conditions during infection. Basic studies in microbial physiology, new vaccines, molecular microbiology and microfluidics applied to the microbiology diagnostic are also performed in our laboratory.

Selected Recent publications:

– Lozano, H., et al. (2018). Nanoscale. 10:19188-94.
– Crespo, A., et al. (2018). Front Microbiol. 9:986.
– Basas, J., et al. (2018). Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 62(2):e01777-17.
– Crespo, A., et al. (2017). Scientific Reports. 7:17892. AND Scientific Reports. 7:13350.
– Basas, J. et al (2016). Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 71:2895-01.
– Crespo, A.et al. (2016). Front Microbiol. 7:688.
– Baelo, A.et al. (2015). J Controlled Release. 209:150-9.
– Torrents, E. (2014). Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 4:52.

 

Job position


Development of multidisciplinary research on new therapeutic strategies to treat bacterial chronic infections from different research areas. The PhD student will learn skills in microbiology, bacterial genetics, cell biology, nanotechnology, biofilms, animal models of infections, biochemistry, etc and will contribute to activities of the research group. The PhD candidate will commit adequate time and effort to the project and display initiative in identifying and resolving problems relating to the research.