James Mordue
PhD Student
Member of the Roe Group, October 2017 - present
I’m interested in understanding how bacteria attach and persist on surfaces, how this information can be applied to help design better biomedical implants and improve patient outcomes.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the University of Glasgow. During this time, I completed several research projects including a biochemistry internship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas and later worked with Dr Roe in Glasgow on the role of D-serine in virulence in distinct bacterial pathogens. After graduating I worked with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline at their primary antibiotic manufacturing facility in Irvine as a Microbiology laboratory scientist before returning to the University of Glasgow to begin my Ph.D.
My PhD studentship is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). My project focuses on the mechanisms of attachment, regulation and biofilm formation of bacterial pathogens to the abiotic surfaces of biomedical implants. Implants allow the management and treatment of a variety of conditions and have a wide range of hugely beneficial applications. However, the surfaces of implants allow the attachment of potentially harmful bacteria and other microorganisms. Medical implants penetrate the skin and other physical barriers the body uses to protect itself from infection. As a result, bacteria adhered to implant surfaces are often extremely difficult if not impossible for the body to clear, providing a reservoir of persistent re-infection.
I work primarily with urinary pathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) in order to model attachment to indwelling urinary catheters. 80% of people with a catheter develop a urinary tract infection (UTI) which requires antibiotic treatment. Catheter associated UTI’s (CAUTI’s) are a major cause of patient morbidity and mortality, causing over two thousand deaths and costing the National Health Service (NHS) £1-2.5 billion per annum. This issue is compounded further by the widespread development of antibiotic resistance among CAUTI causing organisms, some of which now possess multi-drug resistance.
Previous work in this field has often focused on the bactericidal action of engineered surfaces leaving the effects on bacterial gene regulation and expression relatively poorly understood. I aim to elucidate these areas to improve understanding of how chronic infective organisms persist on biomedical implant surfaces and cause disease in patients.
I work in collaboration with Professor Nikolaj Gadegaard and his lab who provide expertise in nanofabrication and microfluidic technology. The precise altering of surface nanotopography allows me to study bacterial responses to physical changes in their environment.