Exciting news - the von Mentzer Lab is expanding - we are now looking for a postdoc interested in microbial genomics! For more info click here! Contact us if you are looking for MSc/Erasmus projects - multiple projects available!
Microbial Genomics meets Functional Microbiology
The von Mentzer Lab is a team of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy dedicated to answering important questions in bacterial evolution using a combination of computational and experimental methodologies. We focus on bringing together publicly available big data, and collecting new data from collaborations worldwide with the aim to make our data and tools freely available and openly licensed for other researchers to use and extend our work.
Functional genomics
The research in the von Mentzer Lab is focused on the study of bacterial evolution, specifically the evolution of pathogenic E. coli, such as enterotoxgenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). One of the many virulence factors that bacteria express are adhesins, also called colonisation factors. These are proteinaceous outer membrane structures that allow tha bacteria to adhere to the host cells. In ETEC there is a battery of colonisation factors that we know quite little about. We use genomic approached to study sequenced E. coli genomes, including ETEC to investigate the diversity of these colonisation factors including their mobile genetic elements. In addition to viurlence genes, we have an interest in antibiotic resistance with the aim to investigate the plasmids carrying resistance genes and field that currently is expanding. The genomic findings guide the experimental approaches to investigate the functionality of, for example a putative colonisation factor.
Our Projects
We have multiple on-going projects covering aspects of bacterial evolution with a focus on pathogenic E. coli. The data we use and generate is pushed to be open source and freely accessible. Are you interested in joining the team, contact Astrid von Mentzer and we can discuss further.
Our Team
We are a small team recently established at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. We strive to build a diverse team where we emmbrace our differences and create space for innovation. We are funded by multiple funders including the The Research Council, Sahlgrenska Academy and Åke Wiberg .