Description:

Title: 

Fighting Antibiotic Resistance and Climate Change with Bacterial Genetics!

Speaker:

Jason Peters, PhD,  Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Topic:

The World Health Organization has identified Air pollution/climate change and antimicrobial resistance as the first and fifth on the list of top threats to global health, respectively. In the Peters lab, we are using the power of bacterial genetics to address both of these critical issues. Our CRISPR-based functional genomics approaches will allow us to define the roles of gene networks in the process of using microbes to convert plant material into valuable biofuels and bioproducts as well as in antibiotic targeting and resistance. We are currently developing innovative CRISPR tools for exploration of gene function in bioenergy-relevant alpha-Proteobacteria (e.g., Zymomonas mobilis) and antibiotic resistant ESKAPE pathogens (e.g., Acinetobacter baumannii).

Host:  Dr. Hank Seifert, Professor, Dept. of Microbiology-Immunology