PhD in Clostridioides Difficile Population Dynamics

The project at the University of Birmingham (Birmingham, United Kingdom) will use a dataset of C. difficile genome sequences to generate a nationwide population snapshot of this pathogen. This will identify clones that have recently emerged and spread in both healthcare institutions and the wider community, determine antibiotic susceptibilities, identify known antibiotic resistance determinants, and implement genome-wide association methodologies to discover novel resistance genes or mutations, primarily those that contribute to resistance against antibiotics used for the treatment of CDI. The project aims to reveal whether bacterial factors are driving the recent increase in CDI rates and to inform novel prevention and treatment strategies./nThe project will be supervised by Prof Willem van Schaik (UoB), Dr David Williams (UKHSA) and Prof Alan McNally (UoB).