Research Interests
The main focus of my Phd and my postdocs is molecular biology of bacteriophages. I am interested in the ways that phages alter the metabolism of infected bacteria via the use of auxilliary metabolic genes they possess in their genomes. Furthermore, I am interested in isolating and characterising novel phages against pathogenic bacteria as an alternative to classic antibiotic treatments. Finally, I am trying to develop both molecular and bioinformatic approaches to characterise, classify, and study bacteriophages isolated from natural environments or clinical patients.
Biography
2017 PhD, University of Warwick
2011 MSc, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
2006 BSc Biology & Environmental Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- Li, Chun-Yang, Wang, Xiu-Juan, Chen, Xiu-Lan, Sheng, Qi, Zhang, Shan, Wang, Peng, Quareshy, Mussa, Rihtman, Branko, Shao, Xuan, Gao, Chao, Li, Fuchuan, Li, Shengying, Zhang, Weipeng, Zhang, Xiao-Hua, Yang, Gui-Peng, Todd, Jonathan D., Chen, Yin, Zhang, Yu-Zhong, 2021. A novel ATP dependent dimethylsulfoniopropionate lyase in bacteria that releases dimethyl sulfide and acryloyl-CoA. eLife, 10
- Rihtman, Branko, Puxty, Richard John, Hapeshi, Alexia, Lee, Yan-Jiun, Zhan, Yuanchao, Michniewski, Slawomir, Waterfield, Nicholas R., Chen, Feng, Weigele, Peter, Millard, Andrew D., Scanlan, David J., Chen, Yin, 2021. A new family of globally distributed lytic roseophages with unusual deoxythymidine to deoxyuridine substitution. Current Biology, 31 (14), pp. 3199-3206.e4
- Smith, Alastair F., Silvano, Eleonora, Päuker, Orsola, Guillonneau , Richard, Quareshy, Mussa, Murphy, Andrew, Mausz, Michaela A., Stirrup, Rachel, Rihtman, Branko, Aguilo Ferretjans, Maria, Brandsma, Joost, Petersen, Jörn, Scanlan, David J., Chen, Yin, 2021. A novel class of sulfur-containing aminolipids widespread in marine roseobacters. ISME Journal, 15, pp. 2440-2453
- Sazinas, Pavelas, Michniewski, Slawomir, Rihtman, Branko, Redgwell, Tamsin, Grigonyte, Aurelija, Brett, Amelia, Guck, Bethany, Smith, Rebecca, Hooton, Steven P., Hobman, Jon L., Millard, Andrew D., Stajich, Jason E., 2019. Metagenomics of the Viral Community in Three Cattle Slurry Samples. Microbiology Resource Announcements, 8 (7)
- Rihtman, Branko, Bowman-Grahl, Sabine, Millard, Andrew, Corrigan, Rebecca M., Clokie, Martha R. J., Scanlan, David J., 2019. Cyanophage MazG is a pyrophosphohydrolase but unable to hydrolyse magic spot nucleotides. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 11 (3), pp. 448-445
- Michniewski, Slawomir, Redgwell, Tamsin, Grigonyte, Aurelija, Rihtman, Branko, Aguilo-Ferretjans, Maria, Christie-Oleza, Joseph, Jameson, Eleanor, Scanlan, David J., Millard, Andrew D., 2019. Riding the wave of genomics to investigate aquatic coliphage diversity and activity. Environmental Microbiology, 21 (6), pp. 2112-2128
- Smith, Alastair, Rihtman, Branko, Stirrup, Rachel, Silvano, Eleonora, Mausz, Michaela A., Scanlan, David J., Chen, Yin, 2019. Elucidation of glutamine lipid biosynthesis in marine bacteria reveals its importance under phosphorus deplete growth in Rhodobacteraceae. The ISME Journal, 13, pp. 39-49
- Sazinas, Pavelas, Redgwell, Tamsin, Rihtman, Branko, Grigonyte, Aurelija, Michniewski, Slawomir, Scanlan, David J., Hobman, Jon, Millard, Andrew, 2018. Comparative Genomics of Bacteriophage of the Genus Seuratvirus. Genome Biology and Evolution, 10 (1), pp. 72-76
- Rihtman, Branko, Meaden, Sean, Clokie, Martha R. J., Koskella, Britt, Millard, Andrew D., 2016. Assessing Illumina technology for the high-throughput sequencing of bacteriophage genomes. PeerJ, 4, pp. 1-21
- Perez-Sepulveda, Blanca, Redgwell, Tamsin, Rihtman, Branko, Pitt, Frances Diana, Scanlan, David J., Millard, Andrew D., Hantke, Klaus, 2016. Marine phage genomics : the tip of the iceberg. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 363 (15)
- Puxty, Richard John, Perez-Sepulveda, Blanca, Rihtman, Branko, Evans, David J., Millard, Andrew D., Scanlan, David J., 2015. Spontaneous deletion of an ?ORFanage? region facilitates host adaptation in a ?photosynthetic? cyanophage. PLoS One, 10 (7), pp. 1-13