School of Biosciences and Institute of Microbiology and Infection (IMI) lecturer Dr Apoorva Bhatt has been awarded a NSF-BBSRC Research grant jointly with Nitin Baliga and Eliza Petersen from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.

The award brings together the complementary expertise across the two research groups in the UK and the US to address the fundamental question of how members of the CMNR (Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, and Rhodococcus) group of bacteria adapt to new environments. A systems-based approach will be used to particularly study the regulatory processes leading to dynamic alterations in cell envelope lipid composition. CMNR bacteria include not only human and animal pathogens (including the causative agents of diphtheria, leprosy, and human and bovine tuberculosis), but also biotechnologically important bacterial species such as those used for large-scale production of amino acids and bioremediation.

In the video below Dr Bhatt describes, in 60 seconds, his research into finding a vaccine for tuberculosis.