Combining cutting edge molecular microbiology and super-resolution microscopy to reveal how bacteria divide, and how to stop them

During this PhD we will use super-resolution microscopy to reveal how the septum is built, and how antimicrobials physically compromise septum integrity. This strongly AMR-relevant discovery science project aims to reveal critical, potentially druggable, weak links in bacterial division. This work will be performed in the primary Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis. Due to the highly conserved nature of cell division proteins, insight gained here is directly relevant to pathogens such as MRSA and Streptococcus pneumoniae.