Research

Thesis title: "Mining of Streptomyces bacteria for bioactive secondary metabolites"

Thesis outline: After the mid-20th century "Golden Age" of antibiotics, discovery has slowed drastically while
antimicrobial resistance has reached critical levels. The WHO warns that without action, resistant infections could cause up to 10 million deaths annually by 2030.

A key source of new antibiotics is the bacterium Streptomyces, which produces numerous bioactive compounds encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). However, many of these potential compounds remain undetectable under standard lab conditions due to silent gene regulation.

Recent advances in genome sequencing, genetic engineering, and bioinformatics tools like antiSMASH have revealed this hidden potential, highlighting the need for new methods to activate silent BGCs. This doctoral project explores Streptomyces strains from Laxenburg pond sediments. Sequencing of 12 strains has uncovered promising genetic potential for novel natural products, with some likely representing new species.

Funding: University Assistant (predoctoral)

Supervisor: Sergey Zotchev, Advisors: Olha Schneider and Jaime Felipe Guerrero Garzon

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