Christopher Fröhlich

Title of the thesis:

«On the Evolvability of OXA-48: A comprehensive study of new functions within the β-lactamase OXA-48»

Popular scientific abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the dimensions, and deadly impact microbes can have on our lives. Similarly, the rise of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, drugs used to treat infections, is often referred to as a “silent pandemic”. Already to date, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have lost their lives to infections caused by bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. Here, we used evolution to understand how resistance develops against penicillin-like antibiotics in one of the most troublesome resistance mechanisms. We identified that very low antibiotic concentrations, similar to what can be found in the environment, can drive resistance development substantially. Further, resistance development to one antibiotic often made bacteria susceptible towards other antibiotics. Ultimately, these findings can be used to improve antibiotic treatment strategies and to combat the “silent pandemic” caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The thesis is published and available in Munin.

Supervisors:

• Professor Hanna-Kirsti S. Leiros, Department of Chemistry, UiT (main supervisor)
• Professor Annette Bayer, Department of Chemistry, UiT
• Professor Ørjan Samuelsen, University Hospital of Northern Norway
• Dr. Vidar Sørum, Department of Pharmacy, UiT

Evaluation Committee:

• Professor Guido Werner, Department Infectious Diseases, Robert Koch Institute, Germany (1. Opponent)
• Professor Gustav Vaaje-Kolstad, Biotechnology and Food Science, NMBU- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (2. Opponent)
• Dr. Yvonne Piotrowski, Department of Chemistry, UiT (internal member and leader of the committee)

Leader of the public defence:

The leader of the public defence is Professor Arne Smalås, Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology.

Opposition ex auditorio:

If you have any questions for the candidate during the oublic defence, please send an e-mail to arne.smalas@uit.no. He will announce your questions during the defence.

Trial lecture:

The trial lecture is held on Friday August 27 at 10.15 in the same auditorium.

The title of the trial lecture is:

«Phage therapy - myth or real alternative to circumvent the antibiotic resistance crisis?»

Streaming:

The trial lecture and the public defence will be streamed via this link (Mediasite).

Audience:

UiT follows the national guidelines regarding infection control. A maximum of 31 people are allowed in the auditorium during the defence, as long as everybody keeps a distance of 1 meter at all times.