What drives the evolution of antibiotic resistance? How resistance spreads in bacterial populations? Can we predict the evolution of antibiotic resistance? We are tackling these and other questions in the Evolutionary Dynamics of Antibiotic Resistance Lab, located at the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (Ramón y Cajal University Hospital) in Madrid.
Antibiotic resistant bacterial infections are arguably one of the major threats for human health. Our laboratory seeks to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that drive the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant clones. Ultimately, this will allow us to develop new therapeutic approaches to tackle the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. We work on the following three highly inter-related topics (among others).
Plasmids play a crucial role in bacterial ecology and evolution because they mobilize key traits by horizontal gene transfer. However, the evolutionary impact of plasmids goes above and beyond being mere gene delivery platforms. Recent evidence suggest that plasmid-encoded genes evolve differently than chromosomal genes. Using experimental approaches combined with mathematical simulations and bioinformatic analyses, we try to decipher and understand the rules governing plasmid evolution.
One of the main drivers of the antimicrobial resistance crisis is the emergence and global dissemination of epidemiologically successful drug-resistant clones. These high-risk clones have acquired certain adaptive traits that increase their pathogenicity and survival skills, including the acquisition of antibiotic resistance. We take advantage of cutting-edge genetic technologies to understand the ecological and evolutionary bases of the success of high-risk clones. We believe that this mechanistic understanding will feed essential information for predicting (and avoiding) future expansions of antimicrobial resistant high-risk clones and provide a conceptual framework to better manage infections.
Resistance to virtually all antibiotics has been reported soon after their introduction to clinical use, suggesting that the apparition of resistance will eventually outpace humankind’s ability to develop new antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new intervention strategies to counteract the evolution of antibiotic resistance. In the lab, we take advantage of recent molecular biology advances to develop new approaches to overcome antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations.
Meet our friends and collaborators!
Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán, Javier DelaFuente, Ricardo León-Sampedro, R Craig MacLean, Álvaro San Millán.
Cristina Herencias, Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán , Ricardo León-Sampedro, Aida Alonso-del Valle, Jana Palkovičová, Rafael Cantón, Álvaro San Millán
Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán, Vidar Sørum, Macarena Toll-Riera, Carmen de la Vega, Rafael Peña-Miller, Álvaro San Millán
Jeronimo Rodriguez-Beltran, J Carlos R Hernandez-Beltran, Javier DelaFuente, Jose A Escudero, Ayari Fuentes-Hernandez, R Craig MacLean, Rafael Peña-Miller, Alvaro San Millan
Interested in working with us? We are always looking for motivated students and postdocs.
Please reach out to discuss opportunities!
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Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal
Crtra. Colmenar km 9.1 · 28034 · Madrid
MGEs can confer a cost 💸... It's often assumed this comes mainly from the metabolic burden of producing MGE-encoded proteins, but @Jero_RB @AlvSanMillan et al. suggest this is not the case... https://twitter.com/AlvSanMillan/status/1465243843335528448
New paper: Translational demand is not a major source of plasmid-associated fitness costs. With @Jero_RB @RLeonSampedro @paula_micro and two of my all-time favourite microbiologists Fernando Baquero and Bruce Levin !!! https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0463
Why do plasmids manipulate bacterial phenotypes? We have some ideas: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0461
This Opinion paper was led by PhD student @KBillane with @ellieevolves @dunkie_c and is part of a Special Issue of Phil Trans B @royalsociety edited by @jpjhall @ellieevolves @surt_lab
Guess I am late to the game: @c_igler and I have a new paper, combining experiments and models, in the Special Issue of Phil Trans B @royalsociety, edited by @jpjhall, @ellieevolves, and
@surt_lab: temperate phages constrain conjugative plasmid transfer https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0470
New paper: Translational demand is not a major source of plasmid-associated fitness costs. With @Jero_RB @RLeonSampedro @paula_micro and two of my all-time favourite microbiologists Fernando Baquero and Bruce Levin !!! https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0463
