Looking to the future

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are quickly becoming the greatest threat to human health in the world. It is predicted that by 2050, more people will die of bacterial infections than cancer. The spread of this resistance is driven by the use of antibiotics when they aren’t necessary. In an effort to slow the spread of resistance, our group has designed wound dressings and swabs that change colour and glow, identifying infection earlier and preventing the overuse of antibiotics.

Bacteria have evolved a unique survival strategy in forming biofilms. Biofilms are complex micro-communities of bacteria, which together can protect themselves from destruction by disinfection agents or antibiotics, contributing to the serious global problem of antibiotic resistance. This talk will focus on biofilms in dental applications and the use of nano-sized drug delivery systems and imaging agents to overcome challenges in antimicrobial resistance.

Does life exist only on Earth? To try and answer this question, I study the conditions under which life can exist on Earth and apply this knowledge to other bodies in the Solar System. During this talk I will take you on a tour of places within the Solar System that have been suggested to be habitable and discuss strategies that microbial life may employ to be able to survive there. I will focus on extremophilic organisms living in environments that mimic some of the physical and chemical conditions suggested to have been found on a young Mars with a warmer and wetter climate.