IMIBIC HOSTING OFFER:

La Caixa INPhINIT INCOMING Doctoral Fellowship Programme Call 2021

GROUP LEADER

Prof. Luis Martínez Martínez (luis.martinez.martinez.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es)

RESEARCH PROJECT/RESEARCH GROUP

IMIBIC-GC24 group: Clinical and Molecular Microbiology

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Research Project / Research Group Description

The WHO priority list of MDR bacteria to guide the discovery of new antimicrobials includes carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria, of which Klebsiella pneumoniae producing KPC-type or OXA-48-like beta-lactamases are of great interest. The new inhibitors avibactam, rlebactam and vaborbactam combined with cephalosporins, monobactams or carbapenems have remarkable activity against strains producing KPC and OXA-48-type enzymes.

Mutants resistant to ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI) have already been reported. This has been related to: (i) KPC point mutations; (ii) deletions in the blaKPC gene; (iii) high expression of KPC; (iv) production of some  ESBLs (CTX-M-14 variants, VEB-type enzymes(; and (v) other chromosome-encoded mechanisms (i.e., porin loss). Resistance to CAZ-AVI has been described in K. pneumoniae with OXA-48 and CTX-M-14. In Escherichia coli, a double mutation (P68A, Y211S) in OXA-48 also confers resistance to CAZ-AVI.  The impact of all these molecular mechanisms on resistance to other new combinations is not well known.

The objectives of this project include:

- To determine the bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity of CAZ-AVI, aztreonam (AZT)-avibactam, meropenem-vaborbactam (MPM-VBB), imipenem-relebactam (IMI-REL) and carbapenems against CLINICAL strains of K. pneumoniae producing variants of KPC or OXA-48-like enzymes.

- To select in vitro mutants resistant to CAZ-AVI, AZT-AVI, IMI-REL or MPP-VBB from clinical strains of K. pneumoniae producing KPC-type or OXA-48-like carbapenemases.

- To characterize through whole genome sequencing the resistance mechanisms, both plasmid- and chromosomal-mediated, of the clinical strains and laboratory mutants defined previously.

- To study the hydrolytic profile of new KPC and OXA-48-like enzymes.

- To assess the in vitro stability of resistance of K. pneumoniae with allelic variants of KPC and OXA-48-like in the absence or presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of BL/BLI combinations.

Job position description

Predoctoral position in a consolidated research group (GC024); IMIBIC, Córdoba, Spain. The group is integrated into the Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Disases (REIPI, http://reipi.org/).

The candidate should have graduated in Medicine, Pharmacy, Biology or related biomedical areas. He/She will apply and develop phenotypic and molecular tools to the study of multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae, including reference methods for antibiogram, molecular typing, detection of resistance genes using PCR and related techniques and next-generation sequencing (NGS), and bioinformatic analysis of NGS data. The candidate will integrate into a group with wide experience in the study of microbiological aspects and clinical relevance of antimicrobial resistance, maintaining a close relationship with infectologists and other clinicians interested in infections.

How to Search for this offer:

You can find this offer via the Offer Finder, available at https://finder.lacaixafellowships.org/finder

Select “IMIBIC – Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute to Cordoba” from the dropdown list under “HOST ORGANIZATION”

You can also search the position by its title "MICROBIOLOGICAL MARKERS OF THE IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF NEW COMBINATIONS OF BETA-LACTAM/ BETA-LACTAMASE INHIBITORS AGAINST K. pneumoniae PRODUCING KPC OR OXA-48" under "Search by project title / Job position / Positions description"

Eligibility Criteria

1) At the call deadline (4th Feb 2021), applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

2) At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

• To have completed the studies that lead to an official university degree adapted to the European Higher Education Area awarding 300 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 ECTS credits must correspond to master level.
• To have completed a degree in university not adapted to the European Higher Education Area that gives access to doctoral studies. The verification of an equivalent level of studies to the ones mentioned above will be made by the university when the admission procedure starts.

3) Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline (4th Feb 2021). Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

4) Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

5) Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

How to Apply:

If you want to apply for an INPhINIT fellowship, click on the link below to create your personal account and fill in the on-line application form: https://candidate.lacaixafellowships.org/login

Schedule:

4 February 2021: Application deadline.

18 February 2021: Deadline for submitting the language certificate.

22 April 2021: Notification of the shortlist results.

25, 26 and 27 May 2021: Face-to-face interviews in Barcelona.

7 June 2021: Publication of the final list of selected candidates.

7 – 30 June 2021: Matching between the research centres – fellows.

More Information:

Call for application:

https://fundacionlacaixa.org/es/becas-la-caixa-doctorado-inphinit-incoming

Programme Rules:

https://fundacionlacaixa.org/documents/10280/162494/programme-rules-inph...

Email (for questions concerning the host organisation IMIBIC):

international@imibic.org