Dr Andreas  Haag

Dr Andreas Haag

Lecturer

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 3846
Email
afh22@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

Bacterial infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are a significant global threat already involved in almost 5 million deaths annually. Many bacterial pathogens harbour multiple mobile genetic elements (MGEs), which play a crucial role in their ability to cause disease. Many MGEs are known to interact with each other yet how more complex MGE interactions affect a pathogen’s success has not yet been determined. My research group tackles this challenge by investigating how interactions between MGEs in bacteria, particularly Staphylococcus aureus, influence their evolution, virulence, and ability to resist antibiotics, ultimately driving their success.

Our mission is to understand how MGEs collaborate and compete to shape bacterial pathogens, ultimately aiming to develop new strategies to combat infections.

We achieve this mission by:

  • Characterising the molecular mechanisms underlying key MGE interactions.
  • Defining the impact of MGE interactions on bacterial evolution and antibiotic resistance.
  • Investigating how MGE interactions influence bacterial virulence and pathogenicity.
  • Utilising our findings to develop novel treatment strategies against bacterial infections. 

PhD supervision

  • Jianbin Zhao

Selected publications

 

See more publications