During her PhD studies, Maiken Engelbrecht Petersen investigated the mechanisms of bacterial survival in response to antibiotic treatment. Bacteria have existed far longer than humans and they have developed a large arsenal of protective mechanisms including antimicrobial resistance and shutting down all cellular activity to avoid eradication through dormancy. Maiken studied these different mechanisms, where she developed a screening assay identifying novel antimicrobials, investigated the implication of stress responses and identified which antibiotics best avoid antimicrobial resistance.
The new research findings contribute to the understanding of how the most dangerous bacteria handle the high level of stress during antibiotic treatment and how they may cause life-long infections.

The PhD study was completed at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 13:15
Place: Building 1510, room 213, auditorium VI, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, 8000 Aarhus C.
Title of PhD thesis: Tolerance, Persistence and Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus
Contact information: Maiken Engelbrecht Petersen, e-mail: maiken@inano.au.dk, tel.: +45 41590015

Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Tim Tolker Nielsen, Costerton Biofilm Center, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Professor Françoise van Bambeke, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Université de Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Associate Professor Ken Howard (chair), iNANO, Aarhus University, Denmark

Main supervisor:
Professor Rikke Louise Meyer, iNANO, Aarhus University, Denmark

Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Natural Sciences/GSNS,

Jens Baggesens Vej 53, building 5221, 8200 Aarhus N.