Abstract: Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for the human disease cholera. Estimates suggest 3 million annual infections, of which 100 thousand are fatal. Most disease instances are attributed to the El Tor V. cholerae biotype, which is responsible for the ongoing 7th cholera pandemic. Globally, over 1 billion people inhabit areas of endemicity and future climatic change is likely to exacerbate the risk of illness. The success of V. cholerae as a pathogen is underpinned by an ability to colonise both aquatic ecosystems and the human intestinal tract. The transition between these environments will be the focus of my talk. In particular, I will discuss how global gene regulatory networks can be integrated with each other via shared DNA binding site specificity for transcription factors. I will discuss the possibility that this mechanism is a universal strategy utilised by many bacteria.

Biography: David started his lab in Warwick in 2008 with the support of a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship. His group moved to Birmingham in 2011 where he is now Professor of Molecular Microbiology and a Wellcome Investigator. He works on fundamental aspects of bacterial gene regulation, antibiotic resistance mechanisms and control of pathogenicity.