Forward genetic studies of gene essentiality and sporulation in Clostridium difficile

Speaker: dr Marcin Dembek (Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, UK)

Talk: Forward genetic studies of gene essentiality and sporulation in Clostridium difficile

Time: 24 March 2017, 9am

Venue: Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Abrahama 58

Category: Faculty seminar

Marcin Dembek obtained his master’s degree in 2009 at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG-MUG while studying the potential application of B. subtilis spores as an antigen delivery platform for use in the development of an oral vaccine against Helicobacter pylori. He went on to secure a Wellcome Trust PhD scholarship at Imperial College London to develop genome-wide approaches to studying sporulation and germination in Clostridium difficile. In 2013, he took up a post-doctoral position at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford to work on the development of novel vaccine candidates against malaria before being offered a research associate position in Dr. Paula Salgado’s lab at Newcastle University where he studies the structure and function of potential drug targets in C. difficile. His current work is primarily aimed at understanding the organisation of the ‘molecular machinery’ involved in the engulfment stage of sporulation.

Dr Dembek is a member of the Microbiology Society and an active part of the Polish scientific community in the UK. In 2014, he co-founded Getty Science, an online publication platform aimed at researcher who wish to share their work through creative writing and illustration, as part of a close collaboration with the annual ‘Science. Polish Perspectives’ meeting.