2020 MEETING
The ABX Winter 2020 Meeting
The second ABX meeting was held over Zoom on the 16th December 2020.
Following the success of the first ABX meeting in July 2019, we held a second meeting this winter, eager to provide a platform for sharing ongoing efforts in antibiotic discovery, despite the current COVID-19 restrictions.
To do this in a manner that ensured the safety of the members, this was a virtual meeting.
We were delighted with the turnout of over 80 participants! The range of topics and calibre of speakers was impressive and diverse, highlighting the scope of collaborative potential within the world of antibiotic discovery in the UK, and beyond.
Presentations
The presentations from the meeting are available to view below. For more information on each speaker, click on the titles in the programme to go to the YouTube link. The flash talks provide researchers with an opportunity to briefly showcase their work. If you would like to contribute a flash talk, please email antibioticdiscovery@plymouth.ac.uk.
ABX Winter Meeting Programme
Wednesday 16th December 2020
10:00 - 10:10
Introduction
Professor Mat Upton
Professor of Medical Microbiology – University of Plymouth
10:10 - 10:30
The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) – filling gaps that others do not
Professor Laura Piddock
Director of Scientific Affairs – Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP)
Professor of Microbiology – University of Birmingham
10:30 - 10:50
Citizen Science Drug Discovery; updates from Swab and Send
Dr Adam Roberts
Reader, Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Resistance – Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
10:50 - 11:00
Dr Luke Alderwick
Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology – University of Birmingham
11:00 - 11:10
Investigating late stage functionalisation of a cyclic peptide antibiotic
Gustavo Perez Ortiz
Post-Doctoral Researcher – King's College London
11:10 - 11:20
Flash talks:
Professor Sanjib Bhakta
Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Chemistry - Birkbeck, University of London
DNA topoisomerases as targets for antibacterial chemotherapy
Professor Tony Maxwell
Group Leader - John Innes Centre
Dr Simon Moore
Lecturer in Molecular Biosciences - University of Kent
11:20 - 11:30
Break
11:30 - 11:45
An Ocean of Microbial Chemistry - 'Omics Informed Antibiotic Discovery
Dr Katherine Duncan
Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer in Marine Microbial Chemistry - University of Strathclyde
11:45 - 12:00
Antimicrobial agents from marine and desert bacteria
Professor Marcel Jaspars
Professor of Chemistry - University of Aberdeen
12:00 - 12:10
Genomic characterisation of anti-pseudomonad bioactivity from hyper-arid Micromonospora species
David Mark
PhD Student – University of Strathclyde
12:10 - 12:20
Antibiotic resistance in Antarctica: no longer a pristine ecosystem?
Kudzai Hwengwere
Masters Student – Anglia Ruskin University
12:20 - 12:30
Savannah Gibson
PhD Student – Aston University
12:30 - 12:40
Dr Martin Goldberg
Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology – Birmingham City University
12:40 - 12:50
Flash talks:
Recombinant antibody based therapeutic strategies for addressing drug resistance in bacteria and fungi
Dr Soumya Palliyil
Research Fellow - University of Aberdeen
Building better libraries for drug discovery from the deep-sea sponge microbiome
Sam Williams
PhD Student - University of Bristol
Kruti Gupta
PhD Student - Anglia Ruskin University
12:50 - 13:00
Break
13:00 - 13:10
Neglected MATE efflux pumps in Campylobacter
Dr Thamarai Janganan
Lecturer in Microbiology and Biotechnology – University of Bedfordshire
13:10 - 13:20
Novel Ruthenium Antimicrobial Compounds - an Alternative to Traditional Antibiotics
Kirsty Smitten
PhD Student – University of Sheffield
13:20 - 13:30
Ajay Mistry
Founder/CEO – Oppilotech
13:30 - 13:40
High-throughput nanoscale crystallisation of bioactive natural products for X-ray crystallography
Dr Michael Hall
Senior Lecturer in Organic and Biological Chemistry – Newcastle University
13:40 - 13:50
Victor Hernandez-Rocamora
Research Associate – Newcastle University
13:50 - 14:00
Perturbed dynamics underlie inhibition and altered efflux of a multidrug resistance pump
Dr Eamonn Reading
Research Fellow – King's College London
14:00 - 14:10
Flash talks:
Polymers responsive to microbes
Professor Stephen Rimmer
Professor of Chemistry - University of Bradford
Cytochrome bd as an antimicrobial target
Calum Webster
PhD student - University of Kent
Assembly and selectivity of tripartite efflux systems
Dr Vassiliy Bavro
Reader - University of Essex
14:10 - 14:20
Winner Announcement of Best Presentation from Post Graduates/ Early Career Researcher talks, Summary and Finish