2006 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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University College Cork
Eoin P. O'Grady, Heidi Mulcahy, Julie O'Callaghan, Claire Adams, & Fergal O'Gara
A systems based approach to study molecular mechanisms of microbial-host interactions

With the emergence of microorganisms that are highly-resistant to a range of antibiotics, and the difficulty in managing the infections they cause, the need to identify new treatment methods against these microbes has become even clearer. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important human pathogen causing severe infections in immunocompromised individuals and cystic fibrosis sufferers. More recently, multi-drug resistant strains of P. aeruginosa have been identified in hospital settings. The pathogenesis of this bacterium can be attributed to the production of several virulence factors, which aid colonisation, persistance and disease progression within the host.

One of the core themes of research in the BIOMERIT Research Centre (BRC), located in the Department of Microbiology and Biosciences Institute, UCC, is the study of microbial-host interactions with biomedical and biotechnological applications. Research aims at establishing a greater understanding of how Pseudomonas aeruginosa interacts with its host at the molecular level. Using state-of-the-art 'Omics' technologies, the global expression of both bacterial and human genes and proteins have been assessed during the co-culture of P. aeruginosa and human cells. This has provided invaluable information regarding novel mechanisms used by the bacterium to regulate the production of bacterial virulence determinants, which in turn influence the expression of human genes involved in the response to infection and cell death.

One particular aspect of this study is focused on investigating two important traits of P. aeruginosa, mechanisms of multi-drug resistance and the production and secretion of type III exoenzymes that are toxic to human cells, which we believe are linked via a global post-transcriptional regulatory system. Recently the BRC has secured funding to further develop this hypothesis to study mechanisms of multi-drug resistance in hospital isolates. This research has provided exciting information regarding the complex interplay between a microbial pathogen and its human host and may identify potential targets for the development of more effective therapeutic interventions against this infectious organism.


Eoin P. O'Grady, Heidi Mulcahy, Julie O'Callaghan, Claire Adams, and Fergal O'Gara.

Contact: Prof. Fergal O'Gara,
Director, BIOMERIT Research Centre,
Professor of Microbiology, Microbiology Department, National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC).E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.ucc.ie/biomerit