Tomas Maira-Litran

Bacterial pathogenesis and vaccine development
An important long-term goal of my research is to uncover novel virulence mechanisms of two important human pathogens Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae. For this we use a novel technique termed transposon sequencing (Tn-Seq) which combines transposon mutagenesis with high-throughput sequencing to search for novel virulence determinants in these bacterial pathogens as candidates for vaccine/antimicrobial development.
Antimicrobial discovery
My interest in antimicrobial discovery is focused on several essential bacterial pathways none which has not previously targeted by any currently licensed antibiotic. A major innovation expected out of this project is the discovery of a major new class of anti-infective drugs.