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PhD student one of few chosen to attend prestigious international course

PhD Scholar Erin Shanahan is one of only 16 students chosen worldwide to attend the Advanced Bacterial Genetics course at the world-renown institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

Ms Shanahan’s research is based on the infectious nature of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB).  Her focus is to identify new drug targets and develop tools to manipulate gene expression within the bacterium.

Ms Shanahan’s work will allow scientists to develop new treatments and improved cures to this terrible disease, which claims over 2 million lives each year.

Ms Shanahan’s advisor and leader of this project, Dr Nick West explains, “The current antibiotics available to treat TB are limited and require long treatment regiments.  In addition, M. tuberculosis strains that are resistant to many of these antibiotics are rapidly emerging, requiring the urgent development of new antibiotics.” 

The Advanced Bacterial Genetics course will help to strengthen Ms Shanahan’s research efforts as she works to end this worldwide pandemic.

At the course, she will receive lectures and practical guidance from experts in the field from leading universities across the United States. The course has a particular focus on the wealth of new, cutting-edge genomics methods that are available, and the way in which these can be used to reveal complex biological processes in bacteria.

The course will also focus on how to utilise the wealth of new genomic sequence information in research methods.

Executive Director of the Centenary Institute Professor Mathew Vadas says, “Our Mycobacterial group has made some exciting progress in discovering new methods that may put an end to this devastating disease.  Erin has been a true asset to this group, and I look forward to seeing how she will translate the knowledge gained through this experience into her research at the Centenary Institute.”