Postdoc studying the structural biology of conjugative type IV secretion systems in Gram-positive bacteria
Acquired resistance to antibiotics by bacteria is a global challenge to public health. The genes that enable this resistance are spread both within and between species by the transfer of plasmids. This transfer is driven by conjugative type IV secretion systems (T4SS), a complex molecular machine that transports single stranded DNA from donor to recipient cells.
Structural biology is a powerful tool for understanding such machinery, and has been very successful in uncovering the architecture and function of T4SS in Gram-negative bacteria. In my research, I use biochemistry and cryogenic electron microscopy to study the Gram-positive T4SS of the pCF10 tetracycline resistance plasmid from Enterococcus species. Gram-positive species are clinically significant pathogens and have a very different membrane architecture to the better-studied Gram-negative systems, so we hope to address that knowledge gap with high-resolution structures of a prototypical T4SS. I will continue my work in the Ronnie Bentsson lab as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow from 2026.
Prior to joining Berntsson´s group as a postdoc in 2024, I completed a PhD in Pharmacology in the lab of Patrick Sexton & Denise Wootten at Monash University, Australia. My PhD used cryogenic electron microscopy to study the effects of mutations in the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor, a vital drug target for type 2 diabetes. I also have a Masters in Pharmacology from the University of Auckland, completed in the lab of Malcolm Tingle, where I investigated blood biomarkers as diagnostics for adverse drug reactions to the antipsychotic clozapine.