CANS - Centre for New Antibacterial Strategies

This summer me, as part of @cansuit.bsky.social , was involved in the First Brazilian Symposium on Viruses of Microorganisms. Nice to see VoM research growing in South America!

doi.org/10.3390/v171...

Gammelt virus gir nytt håp mot resistente bakterier | UiT En bakteriofag fra 1920-tallet viser seg å kunne angripe en bakterie som første gang ble funnet av UiT-forskere hundre år senere. Funnet kan bety nye behandlingsmuligheter i møte med økende antibiotik...

uit.no/nyheter/arti...

From the Marine Bioprospecting group of the @cansuit.bsky.social @uitnorgesarktiske.bsky.social

Welcome to todays CANS seminar by Professor Thorsten Wohland from the National University of Singapore

Title: Investigation of antimicrobial action on bacteria and biofilms by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Where: MH Aud 5
When: 12:00-13:00

A link to the past: classical phage ISP infects the recently described Staphylococcus borealis species - Virology Journal Background Staphylococcal infections, caused by a large variety of species within the Staphylococcus genus, are a threat to human health. Although antibiotics are the current choice of treatment for these infections, bacteriophage (phage) therapy has been used with success against Staphylococcus since the dawn of phage therapy. In 2020 a new coagulase-negative species named Staphylococcus borealis was described in Norway. In this study, we focused on understanding phage infections in S. borealis. Methods: First, we predict the presence of prophages and phage-defence mechanisms in the genomes of a collection of twelve S. borealis strains by bioinformatics. We also attempted to isolate S. borealis-infecting phages from Norwegian samples and tested the host-range of three known staphylococcal phages against a panel of fifty Norwegian staphylococcal strains. Results: The presence of prophages and phage defence systems was verified in all tested S. borealis strains. No local Norwegian phages could be obtained in a phage isolation attempt targeted towards S. borealis. The host range analysis shows that phage ISP, originally isolated in the 1920s and still used for phage therapy to date, can infect S. capitis and the S. borealis Hus23 strain. Phage ISP was shown to limit S. borealis Hus23 growth in liquid cultures and lower the formation of biofilm by the bacterium. The efficiency of plating of phage ISP can be improved by repeated passages in the new S. borealis Hus23 host. Conclusions: here we expand the known host range of the traditional phage ISP by showing that it also infects S. borealis and can be adapted to the new host by serial passages, showcasing the flexibility of phages as an antimicrobial strategy.

What started as a question in a @cansuit.bsky.social seminar ended up in tying an old and clinically valuable phage to a new bacterial threat described at the UiT. Thanks Pauline Cavanagh, Rob Lavigne et al for the collaboration!

virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Welcome to todays CANS seminar!

Microbiome-pathogen-host interactions in Clostridioides difficile infection: Nutrients, signals, and future interventions

Presenter: Assistant professor Andrew Hryckowian,
Where: MH Aud 2
When: 14:15-15:00

Check out our latest cool work by talented postdoc @ronimiah.bsky.social and team on a programmable, selection-free CRISPRi tool in S.aureus.

Welcome to todays CANS seminar presented by Prof. Claus Ernst Moser, University of Copenhagen, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Bacteriology

Title:
Oral antibiotic treatment of infective endocarditis - the POET study and beyond

Where: MH Aud 5

When: 14:15-15:00

Disputas- Master in Applied and Commercial Biotechnology Ahmed Bargheet | UiT Master in Applied and Commercial Biotechnology Ahmed Bargheet disputerer for ph.d.-graden i helsevitenskap og vil offentlig forsvare avhandlingen:   Dynamics of infant gut resistome and mobilome: Impa...

🚨 Don’t miss Ahmed Bargeheet’s trial lecture tomorrow & PhD defence on Thu 21st!
📍 uit.no/tavla/artikk...

In connection with the defence, join the microbiome seminar featuring Anne Salonen & Rebecca A. Gladstone 🎤
👉 uit.no/research/can...

How can we protect newborn babies from dangerous germs? Research shows that multiple factors play a role in helping a baby develop a healthy gut.

How can we protect newborn babies from dangerous bacteria? 🦠 #AMR #Microbiome @forskning.bsky.social

Have a look below 👇

partner.sciencenorway.no/babies-bacte...

www.forskning.no/bakterier-ba...

Finland's first giant virus Investigative gene-ius...

Want to hear about Finland's first giant virus?

@gabrielmfa.bsky.social did an excellent interview for a podcast episode in The Naked Scientist 🧪🦠

www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...

Great to see Lara Ambrosio Leal Dutra representing CANS and presenting her excellent work on bacteriophages during The Danish Viruses of Microbes symposium in Copenhagen! 😀

🚼 Findings reveal that newborns given daily probiotics had significantly lower carriage of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
🌍 Study from rural Tanzania, the #ProRIDe trial shows that we may fight AMR, starting from day one.

🧫 #AMR #Probiotics #GlobalHealth

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I am proud to have contributed to this groundbreaking work. A heartfelt congratulations to all the authors!

Welcome to a two part IFA/CANS seminar, presented by Prof. Thomas Rades and Assistant Prof. Hagar Labouta.

Location: Aud 4 MH

10:15-10:50
Title of presentation: Solid Form Diversity of Amorphous Drugs

10:50-11:25
Title of presentation: On-Chip Synthesis and Evaluation of Targeted Nanomedicines

FHI med nye tall: Stadig flere blir smittet av resistente bakterier Stadig flere blir smittet av bakterier det nesten ikke finnes medisiner mot. Vi tar bakteriene med oss hjem fra Syden, sier professor.

Ferieklar? 😎 Du kan komme til å ta med deg verstingbakterier hjem fra Syden, så husk på de gode gamle smitteverntiltakene som å vaske hendene godt og ofte. Og si fra hvis du har vært innlagt på sykehus i ferien! www.nrk.no/norge/fhi-me...

Discovery of antibiotic resistance in newly identified bacterium The recently discovered bacterium Staphylococcus borealis, named after the Northern Lights, turns out to be resistant to several classes of antibiotics. The elderly are especially at risk. 

New press release about the newly discovered bacterium Staphylococcus borealis!

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Revealing the clinical relevance of Staphylococcus borealis | Microbiology Spectrum This study contributes novel knowledge on the clinical relevance of Staphylococcus borealis; this is of importance when clinical microbiologists encounter S. borealis identified in patient samples. S....

New publication alert! 🥳
Jorunn Pauline Cavanagh and colleagues investigated the clinical relevance of the new species Staphylococcus borealis

Have a look 👇
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Din neste medisin kan være et virus - UiT Magasin

www.uitmagasin.no/2023/02/02/d...

@cansuit.bsky.social

Thanks for an incredible #CANS-day yesterday! Great discussions and research on #AMR and alternative strategies. Huge thanks to Timothy Walsh and Sílvio Santos for their outstanding keynote lectures! 🎤🔬 #AntimicrobialResistance

Genomic and structural insights into Jyvaskylavirus, the first giant virus isolated from Finland Jyvaskylavirus, the northernmost isolate of the Marseilleviridae family, shows that giant viruses are also part of the boreal Finnish environment and brings structural information with relevance for u...

It is not everyday that we can name a virus after a city! Long effort finally out now, adding Finland to the giant virus map. On top of this, in-depth structural data. Thanks @lrsundberg.bsky.social @abrescialab.bsky.social et al.

elifesciences.org/articles/103...

@cansuit.bsky.social

Disputas – Master in Science Jeanette Grunnvåg | UiT Grunnvåg disputerer for ph.d.-graden i helsevitenskap og vil offentlig forsvare avhandlingen: <br />Targeting virulence: Activity-Based Protein Profiling (ABPP) for Discovery of Potential Therapeutic ...

Jeanette Grunnvåg just had an excellent trial lecture! Tune in for her PhD defence today at 11:15

"Targeting virulence: Activity-Based Protein Profiling (ABPP) for Discovery of Potential Therapeutic Targets in Enterococcus faecium"

uit.no/tavla/artikk...

Staphylococcus borealis AI generated illustration

Ladies and gentlemen. All you want to know about Staphylococcus borealis!
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40071928/
@clauskling.bsky.social
@cansuit.bsky.social

(AI generated illustration)

Seks viktige grep i kampen mot antibiotikaresistens Vi kan lykkes, men det krever modige grep fra helsemyndighetene og private finansieringskilder.

Hva om du fikk en infeksjon, men vi hadde ikke antibiotika mot den? Vi trenger disse seks grepene for å holde antibiotikaresistensen på avstand:

www.dagensmedisin.no/antibiotika-...

Welcome to todays CANS seminar by Kimberly Kline, Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland and Markus Lakemeyer, University of Jena, Germany

'Pathogenesis of Enterococcal biofilm-associated infection'
14:15-15.00

´Chemoproteomic profiling of microbial interactions´
15.00-15.45

MH Aud 5

Welcome to todays CANS seminar presented by Professor Abhyudai Singh, University of Delaware

Title: Systems Biology in Single Cells: From Antibiotic Tolerance to Phage Replication

14:15-15:00
MH Aud 2

PhD Candidate in Microbiology (274648) | UiT The Arctic University of Norway Job title: PhD Candidate in Microbiology (274648), Employer: UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Deadline: Thursday, March 20, 2025

Interested in microbiology and microbiome?

Application is now open for a PhD-position at the research group of Child and Adolescent Health at UiT.

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Activity-Based Protein Profiling Identifies an α-Amylase Family Protein Contributing to the Virulence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus In search of new putative antimicrobial drug targets in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, we aimed to identify and characterize retaining glycosidase activities in this bacterial pathogen. ...

New article out in ACS Infectious Diseases! Using activity-based probes by H. Overkleeft, former PhD candidate @jalal228.bsky.social identified an alpha-amylase family protein of S. aureus supporting virulence during Galleria infection! @monaj66.bsky.social pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

This bacterium outsmarts our defences, but we are on its heals Share your science: Meet Staphylococcus aureus, the ultimate microscopic escape artist that invades, adapts, tricks, and thrives within our bodies.

Please check up the popular scientific article by Dr. Stephen Ahator 😊 @cansuit.bsky.social
www.sciencenorway.no/bacteria-imm...

Mucosal-adapted bacteriophages as a preventive strategy for a lethal Pseudomonas aeruginosa challenge in mice Communications Biology - Phage VAC3 adaptations to the mucosal environment (improved replication in mucin-treated hosts and retention in the respiratory tract) are mechanisms that can exploited as...

First paper on a collaboration between the @cansuit.bsky.social of the UiT (Norway) and the UNIFAL (Brazil). This paper strengthens mucosal adaptations as the reason why prophylactic phage therapy works and also is symbolic in the revival of phage research in Brazil.

rdcu.be/d5rhE

Welcome to todays CANS seminar, presented by Dr. Hymonti Dey from UiT

Title of presentation:
Mechanisms of actions for short analogues of marine-derived antimicrobial peptides with improved antibacterial, antibiofilm and synergistic potential

14:15-15:00
MH Aud 1