Susanne Gebhard

Biography

2014-present Lecturer, University of Bath 2014 Habilitation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany 2009-2014 Junior Group Leader, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany 2006-2009 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Otago, NZ 2003-2006 PhD, University of Otago, NZ 2000 Graduate Diploma in Applied Science, University of Waikato, NZ 1996-2003 Biology Diploma, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany

Research Interest

Bacteria are found in almost any habitat on Earth, and one key to their success is their extraordinary ability to monitor their environment and respond to changes and stresses they might encounter. They achieve this by means of sophisticated signalling pathways that can relay specific information from the outside to the inside of the cell and trigger the most appropriate response. My group is interested in understanding how these signalling systems work, what information they gather, how the different protein components communicate, which genes are switched on or off as a result of signalling, and how these responses adapt the bacterium to the encountered stress. Our work is focussed in two main areas. Antibiotic stress responses The first step in antibiotic resistance very often is the detection of the drug by the bacterium, which leads to activation of dedicated resistance systems that protect the cell. Using a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches, supported by bioinformatics and mathematical modelling, we study signalling pathways involved in resistance against cell wall antibiotics in the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecalis. Sub-projects range from mechanistic investigations of individual signalling pathways to systems-level investigation of whole regulatory networks. Ultimately, if we can fully understand these processes, it may be possible to design drugs that can avoid detection and thereby bypass resistance.