Research group for Host Microbe Interaction

HMI

The HMI group vision is to exploit interactions between host, microbes and drugs for better health. Our goal is to develop new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies to treat bacterial infection.
HMI is a large group consisting of several senior scientists in Professor and Assosiate Professor positions and 3 Engineers supporting the research infrastracture.  The group has currenly 5 postdoctoral fellows, 7 PhD students, and about 6 MSc students per year.
The group is located at the Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT, and is part of the Centre for new antibacterial strategies (CANS) 

NEWS

August 2022 - We participated in the Research day (Forskningsdag) arranged at the Northern Norwegian science center. Photos included in the carousel.
August 2022 - PhDone! We are proud that Eric Juskewitz recently defended his PhD thesis. See details in PhDone section.

June 2022 - Check out one of our 2022 publications summarized by CANS communication advisor Jan Fredrik Frantzen. 

2022 Publications (not an exhaustive list) 


Lindstedt, Kenneth; Buczek, Dorota Julia; Pedersen, Torunn Annie; Hjerde, Erik; Raffelsberger, Niclas Peter; Suzuki, Yutaka; Brisse, Sylvain; Holt, Kathryn E.; Samuelsen, Ørjan; Sundsfjord, Arnfinn. Detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae human gut carriage: a comparison of culture, qPCR, and whole metagenomic sequencing methods. Gut microbes.  2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2022.2118500
Johannessen, Helene; Anthonisen, Inger Lill; Zecic, Nermin; Hegstad, Kristin; Ranheim, Trond Egil; Skaare, Dagfinn. Characterization and fitness cost of Tn7100, a novel integrative and conjugative element conferring multidrug resistance in Haemophilus influenzae. Front Microbiol 2022;13:945411. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.945411.
Stensen, Dina B; Cañadas, Rafael A Nozal; Småbrekke, Lars; Olsen, Karina; Nielsen, Christopher Sivert; Svendsen, Kristian; Hanssen, Anne-Merethe; Ericson, Johanna U; Simonsen, Gunnar Skov; Bongo, Lars Ailo; Furberg; Anne-Sofie. Social network analysis of Staphylococcus aureus carriage in a general youth population. Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Oct;123:200-209. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.08.018. PMID: 36057411.
Crowe-McAuliffe, Caillan; Murina, Victoriia; Turnbull, Kathryn Jane; Huch, Susanne; Kasari, Marje; Takada, Hiraku; Nersisyan, Lilit; Sundsfjord, Arnfinn; Hegstad, Kristin; Atkinson, Gemma C. Structural basis for PoxtA-mediated resistance to phenicol and oxazolidinone antibiotics. 2022, Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29274-9
Samara, Jumana; Moossavi, Shirin; Alshaikh, Belal; Ortega, Van A.; Pettersen, Veronika K.; Ferdous, Tahsin; Hoops, Suzie L.; Soraisham, Amuchou; Vayalumkal, Joseph; Dersch-Mills, Deonne; Gerber, Jeffrey S.; Mukhopadhyay, Sagori; Puopolo, Karen; Tompkins, Thomas A.; Knights, Dan; Walter, Jens; Amin, Harish; Arrieta, Marie-Claire. Supplementation with a probiotic mixture accelerates gut microbiome maturation and reduces intestinal inflammation in extremely preterm infants. Cell Host and Microbe 2022. ISSN 1931-3128.s doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2022.04.005.
Juskewitz, Eric; Mishchenko, Ekaterina; Dubey, Vishesh Kumar; Jenssen, Marte; Jakubec, Martin; Rainsford, Philip; Isaksson, Johan Mattias; Andersen, Jeanette Hammer; Ericson, Johanna U. Lulworthinone: In Vitro Mode of Action Investigation of an Antibacterial Dimeric Naphthopyrone Isolated from a Marine Fungus. Marine Drugs 2022. ISSN 1660-3397.s doi: 10.3390/md20050277.
Crowe-McAuliffe Caillan, Murina Victoriia, Turnbull Kathryn Jane, Huch Susanne, Kasari Marje, Takada Hiraku, Nersisyan Lilit, Sundsfjord Arnfinn, Hegstad Kristin, Atkinson Gemma C, Pelechano Vicent, Wilson Daniel N, Hauryliu Vasili. Structural basis for PoxtA-mediated resistance to phenicol and oxazolidinone antibiotics. Nature Comm 2022;13:1860. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29274-9.
Fostervold A, Hetland MAK, Bakksjø R, Bernhoff E, Holt KE, Samuelsen Ø, Simonsen GS, Sundsfjord A, Wyres KL, Löhr IH; Norwegian Study Group on Klebsiella pneumoniae. A nationwide genomic study of clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae in Norway 2001-15: introduction and spread of ESBLs facilitated by clonal groups CG15 and CG307. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2022 Feb 23;77(3):665-674. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkab463.
Pettersen, Veronika K.; Dufour, Antoine; Arrieta, Marie-Claire. Metaproteomic profiling of fungal gut colonization in gnotobiotic mice. Animal Microbiome 2022; Volum 14. ISSN 2524-4671.s doi: 10.1186/s42523-022-00163-2.
Van Hal, Sebastian J; Willems, Rob JL; Gouliouris, Theodore; Ballard, Susan A; Coque, Teresa M; Hammerum, Anette M; Hegstad, Kristin; Pinholt, Mette; Howden, Benjamin P; Malhotra-Kumar, Surbhi; Werner, Guido; Yanagihara, Katsunori; Earl, Ashlee M; Raven, Katherine E; Corander, Jukka; Bowden, Rory; the Enterococcal Study Group. The interplay between community and hospital Enterococcus faecium clones within healthcare settings, a genomic analysis. Lancet Microbe 2022;3:e133-e141. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00236-6.
Pettersen, Veronika K.; Antunes, Luis Caetano Martha; Dufour, A; Arrieta, Marie-Claire. Inferring early-life host and microbiome functions by mass spectrometry-based metaproteomics and metabolomics. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 2022; Volum 20. ISSN 2001-0370.s 274 - 286.s doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.12.012.

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