The University of Lausanne has been awarded an ERC consolidator grant worth nearly 2 million Euros to co-ordinate the PneumoCaTChER project over the next 5 years.
They aim to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying cell-to-cell variability and its importance in virulence and antibiotic resistance having already set up and developed a novel single cell imaging system and genetic engineering and screening platforms for application to the important opportunistic human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The project insights will lead to a better understanding of phenotypic variation with potential results leading to new strategies for pneumococcal infections.