Michaël Tadesse
mickey-tad.bsky.social
Michaël Tadesse
@mickey-tad.bsky.social
PhD Candidate at the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, UK. Interested in antimicrobial resistance, bioinformatics, natural products and phage biology.
It has been a surprisingly quick 4 years, which culminated in passing my PhD viva today! Thank you to my supervisors Antonia @antoniasagona.bsky.social, Fabrizio @albertilab.bsky.social and my lab mates for their support. And to Lona and Andy for being my examiners.
Many congratulations to Mickey @mickey-tad.bsky.social for successfully defending his viva today!! My warmest thanks to Andy @milja001.bsky.social and Lona Alkhalaf for being his examiners and to @nezislab.bsky.social for serving as Exam Advisor! @warwicklifesci.bsky.social @albertilab.bsky.social
April 2, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Michaël Tadesse
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
New paper from the lab! Thanks to Fabrizio Alberti and his lab for the great collaboration and to Michael Tadesse for all his hard work!! Thanks @warwicklifesci.bsky.social, MIBTP and BBSRC for funding!
One-Two Punch: Phage-Antibiotic Synergy Observed against Staphylococcus aureus by Combining Pleurotin and Phage K
The surge in antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections has been deemed a major public health concern. There is an urgent need for novel antimicrobial therapies, chemical and nonantibiotic. The basidiomycota-derived, secondary metabolite pleurotin has been shown to be effective against Gram-positive bacteria, while bacteriophages could be the ultimate nonantibiotic alternative. In this study, the combination of pleurotin and phage K targeting S. aureus was examined. Pleurotin was isolated from the basidiomycota fungus Hohenbuehelia grisea. The cytotoxicity of pleurotin was assessed in two human cell lines in comparison to pleuromutilin, vancomycin, and phage K. The antibiotics were then tested independently or in combination with phage K against two S. aureus strains. Cytotoxicity of pleurotin in human cells was comparable to vancomycin and pleuromutilin. Results suggest that adding phage K has a synergistic effect and can lower the MIC for pleurotin, pleuromutilin, and vancomycin. This demonstrates that pleurotin could be a viable antistaphylococcal drug.
pubs.acs.org
March 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM