Higher Degree Research Student of the Week: Suleman Irfan
Meet Suleman Irfan, our PhD candidate Harnessing Nature's Antibacterial Viruses as Alternatives to Antibiotic.
Published on the 12 December 2024 by Alia Tawfik
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the leading causes of infectious keratitis worldwide. This bacterium is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and so therapy is failing. In keratitis, this can lead to blindness or removal of the eye. Bacteriophages, antibacterial viruses, offer a promising solution.
Suleman's research focuses on the mechanisms by which bacteriophages combat this pathogen and their potential as a new therapeutic agent to treat keratitis. In this project, Suleman will work on various techniques in microbiology, bacteriophage isolation and characterization, microscopy, whole genome sequencing and immunological techniques. He hopes to develop a bacteriophage cocktail that might be used in the future to treat these blinding infections.
Read more about Suleman and his research here.