The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital

EDUCATION

Research Projects

Project: Understanding the role of protein glycosylation within Acinetobacter baumannii

Scott group

Within the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii multiple proteins are known to be O-linked glycosylated yet the functional significance of this is unclear. To date glycoproteomics studies have suggested similar proteins are targeted for glycosylation between A. baumannii strains yet the glycans used for glycosylation are highly variable between strains. A critical unanswered question within A. baumannii glycosylation is if different glycans have the same impacts on the proteome. Using a panel of clinical strains of A. baumannii we aim to assess the role of protein glycosylation by exploring the conserved and differential impacts on the proteome when glycosylation is inhibited by deleting the oligosaccharyltransferase pglL. Using a molecular approach, we then aim to test the hypothesis that different glycans may have different effects on the proteome by introducing cloned capsule loci into a common genetic background. Combined this work will provide new insight into the functional role of O-linked glycan diversity in A. baumannii.

Contact project supervisor for further
information and application enquiries

Project Supervisor

Dr Nichollas Scott

Project Co-supervisor

Dr Jessica Lewis

Project availability
PhD/MPhil
Master of Biomedical Science
Honours

Scott group

nichollas.scott@unimelb.edu.au

4 vacancies

Themes
Antimicrobial Resistance
Bacterial and Parasitic Infections
Cross Cutting Disciplines
Discovery Research

The Scott Group focuses on the application of molecular microbiology and mass spectrometry (MS)-based methodologies to characterise microbial systems. The key focus of the lab is understanding how pathogens of the Burkholderia genus cause disease and why proteins decorated with carbohydrates influence Burkholderia pathogenesis.

Projects within the Scott lab: Two broad projects are currently on offer in the Scott lab; Project 1 involves using proteomics and CRISPRi based approaches to understand which glycoproteins are preferentially glycosylated within Burkholderia cenocepacia. Project 2 involves using proteomics to study the impact of Burkholderia cenocepacia infections on Eukaryotic cells using a combination of proteomics approaches.