Project Reference: TRG27-VET-AG1
Project title: Breaking the spiral: Morphological plasticity in Campylobacter.
Project outline
Background: Campylobacter is the world’s leading bacterial cause of gastroenteritis, imposing massive socioeconomic burdens. Its spiral shape acts as a corkscrew to penetrate host mucus and epithelium.
Overview: Campylobacter relies on dramatic morphological shifts, from helical to rod, coccoid, or filamentous forms, to survive and cause infection. This poorly understood process is the focus of our project. By integrating microfluidics with long-term, high throughput single cell live imaging, we aim to map how this pathogen adapts to host environments, ultimately paving the way for new antimicrobial therapies.
Aim: To define the genetic and physical drivers of Campylobacter plasticity, we will integrate gene deletion screening, single-cell microfluidics, and biomechanical profiling. This multidisciplinary approach will uncover how environmental cues and cell wall architecture govern bacterial navigation and shape transitions.
Workplan:
- Microfluidic single-cell tracking: We will use high-resolution, live-cell video microscopy and custom microfluidics to track individual bacterial navigation and tactic responses across physiological chemical gradients.
- Mutant analysis: We will screen targeted gene-deletion mutants (e.g., the peptidoglycan-remodelling enzymes pgp1 and pgp2) to quantify how specific mutations affect motility and morphological transitions.
- Biomechanical profiling: We will employ quantitative cell length analysis to determine how spatial confinement and matrix viscosity drive morphological transitions.
Impact: Uncovering triggers behind these morphological shifts will redefine our understanding of Campylobacter virulence and environmental persistence. This mechanistic data will enable innovative anti-virulence therapies, designed lock the pathogen into non-infectious states or paralyse its motility within the gastrointestinal tract.
Principal Supervisor
Dr Andrew Grant
Email address: ajg60@cam.ac.uk
Department / Partner Institute: Veterinary Medicine
Website: https://www.vet.cam.ac.uk/directory/ajg60%40cam.ac.uk
BBSRC strategic theme
Understanding the rules of life