Research report NZMS Postgraduate research travel award 2019
Report from the 2019 recipient of the NZMS Postgraduate research travel award 2019, Laurine Kaul, a PhD Candidate in the Richter Lab, Department of Surgery, The University of Adelaide.
In 2019 I was grateful and honoured to receive the New Zealand Microbiology Society (NZMS) Postgraduate Research Travel Award from the ASM. This award supported my attendance at the NZMS annual meeting 2019 and a two-week research visit to Associate Professor Simon Swift’s laboratory at the University of Auckland.
The NZMS annual meeting was held in Palmerston North, starting from the 25th of November 2019 with a rich program including 11 international plenary speakers. The main focus of the sessions was on food and environmental microbiology with some aspects within medical microbiology, resulting in a very interesting and diversified program. I was thrilled to see the progress made in phage development, sequencing of different bacterial species and strains, symbioses in-between species and incredible imaging of biofilms forming from a single cell.
On the 27th of November, I gave a 15 minutes oral presentation of my research “Toxic cocktail for bacteria – staphylococci party ends deadly” in the biofilm session, which was followed by 5 minutes question time. I received interesting questions which led to follow-up discussions and valuable feedback that will impact both future presentations and my research itself.
Through different networking events, including the student night, I was able to connect with local students and international microbiology experts. We exchanged ideas regarding our respective projects and talked about how we see the future of microbiology. What an experience to share knowledge and point of views with scientist from all over the world!
This 4-day meeting ended on a joyful note with the conference dinner and the announcement of next year’s incredible event where NZMS is joined by the ASM for a united conference.
After this inspirational conference, I joined the laboratory of Associate Professor Simon Swift at the University of Auckland. His research focus is on investigating the effectiveness of agents that prevent the formation of, or eradicate, biofilms. His group was very welcoming, interested in my project, willing to give advice and offering me help during my experiments.
In two weeks, I learned a biofilm attachment technique, which allowed me to investigate the capacity of two compounds (patent application pending) to prevent bacterial growth and inhibit biofilm formation on hernia meshes.
Prior to my departure, I had screened different mesh materials and decided to further investigate polypropylene and polyester meshes. The biofilm prevention capacity of my compounds on these meshes was analysed at 3 different concentrations of the individual compounds and dual combinations.
Results were obtained as log10 reduction of the mesh biofilm treated with the compounds compared to the untreated mesh biofilm. In addition, the mesh biofilm was observed under the confocal microscope after being exposed to LIVE/DEAD BacLight staining. The data produced during this visit is crucial for my project and will result in a joint publication in 2020.
Initially, I planned to use the CDC Biofilm reactor as key experiment during my lab visit. Unfortunately, double bookings made the equipment unavailable before Christmas. Nevertheless, I observed the experimental process and learned practical tips and tricks on how to operate the machine. This will be very helpful to optimise a protocol for future experiments with the CDC Biofilm reactor.
Furthermore, I had the opportunity to observe colleagues of Simon’s group performing experiments with the in vivo model Galleria mellonella. This caterpillar is an excellent prototype to investigate the antimicrobial activity and the cytotoxicity of my compounds during pre-clinical in vivo assays. During a fruitful discussion, we determined the feasibility of the model, as well as a timeframe and a protocol needed for future experiments.
Back in Adelaide, I have now sufficient data to start the next step of my project and develop a drug delivery system for my compounds. I am looking forward to a follow up visit at Dr Simon Swift’s laboratory during my third PhD year (2021) to investigate the in vivo efficacy of my treatment using Galleria mellonella. In addition, the current research visit resulted in new friendships, fostering collaborations and bringing Australian and New Zealander microbiologists together.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the ASM’s support, as well as thanking Associate Professor Simon Swift for his collaboration.