• Question: whats the most interseting bacteria you have worked with?

    Asked by to Rebecca, Heather, Dave on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Rebecca Gladstone

      Rebecca Gladstone answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Streptococcus pneumoniae! Ok so this is the bacteria I work on now but it is really very interesting because there are so many different types.
      Some cause more serious disease like meningitis, others live up our noses and don’t harm us at all. Some of them even have antibiotic resistance so they are not easily treated. Some are found all over the world and some are found mostly in developing countries. Each year the types that can be found in our noses can be different to the last.

      It is a ever changing population and its my job to try to understand why are some types can be found all over the world, why some are found only in our noses and why do the types change each year? I do this by comparing them and trying to see what the differences are.

    • Photo: Dave Baker

      Dave Baker answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Pseudomonas aeruginosa. I made optical maps of two different ones to see how related they were. Premature babies are susceptible to infection so it’s an import to monitor any outbreaks.

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