News

Update: This review has now been accepted! Congratulations co-first authors Louisa and Denis! The review can be accessed below:

PhD students Denis Thaqi (UQ, Australia) from the Djoko group and Louisa Stewart (Newcastle, UK) from the Waldron group are currently hard at work, drafting a mini review article for an invited contribution in Metallomics. The topic of this review is “Extracytoplasmic trafficking of nutrient copper in bacteria.” and relates to ongoing collaborative projects in the two groups. Stay tuned!

We opened our doors on 1 September 2017 (time flies!) and now that we’re 1 year old, we’re very much looking forward to welcoming Samantha Firth as our first PhD student, and welcoming back Jack Bolton as an MBiol student!

Recruitment for our second PhD position (with Dr James Walton in Durham Chemistry) has now closed. Thank you all for your interest. We will be interviewing shortlisted candidates in the next two weeks.

We are happy to announce that our joint bid for a 3-year PhD studentship was funded by the Durham University Global Challenges Research Fund Centre for Doctoral Training. The student will be based in collaborator Dr James Walton’s laboratory at the Department of Chemistry.

In the project, the student will synthesise a series of copper-binding small molecule ligands that act as antimicrobial resistance breakers. The student will also spend some time in the Djoko lab to perform microbiological testing of promising compounds. Please see our official advertisement here: https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=99978

Jack Bolton arrived in the lab as a summer student, funded by a Summer Research Bursary from Durham University Biophysical Sciences Institute. Jack will investigate metalation and mismetalation of metallo-b-lactamases for 8 weeks. He will also return to continue the project in October as an MBiol student. Exciting times!

Karrera gave an invited talk at the Centre for Global Infectious Diseases Symposium.

Karrera gave an invited talk at the British Society for Immunology Northeast Meeting.

A while ago, we posted this on Twitter:

Here’s a better photo:

It seemed to generate quite a bit of interest. So, here are the technical drawings! We learnt a few lessons along the way, so these drawings are for a slightly updated version of the turntable that incorporates small improvements. The drawings can be downloaded as a single PDF here.

In total, the cost of materials was around GBP 12. We used hobby metalworking machineries at home (mostly a benchtop lathe), so any university machining workshop should be able to recreate this easily! Note that we spray painted the base to prevent rusting.

We’d love to see your own versions, so if you do end up making one, please post a photo on Twitter (or email)!

Many congratulations to Jack Bolton, who has been awarded a Summer Vacation Studentship from the Durham Biophysical Sciences Institute. Jack will join the lab in July 2018 and continue on as an MBiol student for the 2018-2019 academic year. He will examine the metalation and activity of metallo-ß-lactamases with the aim to develop antimicrobial resistance breakers. This project is a collaboration with Dr James Walton at the Department of Chemistry.

Karrera gave a talk at the Microbiology Society Annual Conference in Birmingham. From all accounts, it was a success! #coppertakeover

Karrera visited Dr Mark Shepherd at the School of Biosciences, University of Kent, and delivered the departmental seminar. Mark and Karrera worked in the McEwan lab together in Australia in 2011.

Karrera also visited the Department of Pathology, Cambridge University, and delivered the departmental seminar there.