Spread of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: Molecular Mechanisms and Targeted Interventions

Spread of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: Molecular Mechanisms and Targeted Interventions

Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major threat to patients and cause millions of deaths worldwide each year. The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is directly linked to the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes between different bacterial species. Our group seeks to understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance gene spread in order to develop new strategies to limit the impact of antibiotic resistant bacteria on global health.

We are particularly interested in:

• Epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria
• Molecular mechanisms that promote the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes between different bacterial species and in complex bacterial communities.
• Dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in human microbiomes and interactions between microbiome diversity and the spread of resistance genes

Methods and technologies we use in our research:

• Culture-based microbiology methods, e.g. antibiotic susceptibility testing, growth kinetics and fitness assays
• in vitro and in vivo models of infection
• Next-generation sequencing, including Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing technologies and bespoke bioinformatics for whole genome and metagenome sequencing approaches and specialised sequencing data analysis.

 

Group leader:

Dr. med Julian Sommer

Julian.Sommer@med.uni-frankfurt.de

orcid.org/0009-0006-3654-2006

Members:

Marie Welter

Love Rit Pfeffer

 

Publications:

• Sommer J, Reiter H, Sattler J, Cacace E, Eisfeld J, Gatermann S, et al. Emergence of OXA-48-like producing Citrobacter species, Germany, 2011 to 2022. Eurosurveillance. 2024 Apr 11;29(15):2300528.
• Sattler J, Noster J, Stelzer Y, Spille M, Schäfer S, Xanthopoulou K, et al. OXA-48-like carbapenemases in Proteus mirabilis - novel genetic environments and a challenge for detection. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2024 Dec;13(1):2353310.
• Sattler J, Tsvetkov T, Stelzer Y, Schäfer S, Sommer J, Noster J, et al. Emergence of Tn 1999.7, a New Transposon in bla OXA-48 -Harboring Plasmids Associated with Increased Plasmid Stability. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2022 Nov 15;66(11):e00787-22.
• Sommer J, Gerbracht KM, Krause FF, Wild F, Tietgen M, Riedel-Christ S, et al. OXA-484, an OXA-48-Type Carbapenem-Hydrolyzing Class D β-Lactamase From Escherichia coli. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2021 May 12;12(May):1–9.
• Göttig S, Walker SV, Saleh A, Koroska F, Sommer J, Stelzer Y, et al. Comparison of nine different selective agars for the detection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE). European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. 2020 May 1;39(5):923–7.
• Hamprecht A, Sommer J, Willmann M, Brender C, Stelzer Y, Krause FF, et al. Pathogenicity of Clinical OXA-48 Isolates and Impact of the OXA-48 IncL Plasmid on Virulence and Bacterial Fitness. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2019 Nov 1;10:2509.
• Koroska F, Göttig S, Kaase M, Steinmann J, Gatermann S, Sommer J, et al. Comparison of phenotypic tests and an immunochromatographic assay and development of a new algorithm for detection of OXA-48-like carbapenemases. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 2017;55(3):877–83.