My research is primarily focused on the study of host-pathogen interaction using larval zebrafish as a model of bacterial infection. My current project “Identifying host factors involved in staphylococcal infection” is supported by the European FP7 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship program (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF - 625975 - Staphylomics).

More information about Tomasz Prajsnar

Research

My research is primarily focused on the study of host-pathogen interaction using larval zebrafish as a model of bacterial infection. My current project “Identifying host factors involved in staphylococcal infection” is supported by the European FP7 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship program (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF - 625975 - Staphylomics).

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive, spherical bacterium causing a wide variety of diseases and infections in humans, ranging from minor skin infections to life-threatening conditions, such as endocarditis and sepsis. Although traditionally considered as an extracellular pathogen, recent research demonstrates that it can survive intracellularly, including within professional phagocytes. Such infected phagocytes can act as reservoirs of disseminated infection. However, the mechanisms by which S. aureus subverts the host immune system during this phase remain unknown.
Therefore it is important to get more insights into mechanisms of staphylococcal pathogenesis especially within infected phagocytes (neutrophils and macrophages). The aim of my current project is the identification of novel phagocyte components important in Staphylococcus aureus disease progression using deep sequencing and bioinformatics technologies.

This is achieved by analysis of transcriptome of neutrophils and macrophages isolated from infected zebrafish larvae (via FACS) to compile a list of genes differentially expressed upon S. aureus infection and therefore to improve our understanding of the innate immune response to staphylococci.  I believe this approach will lead to Identification of novel phagocyte components important in S. aureus disease progression. In the longer run this strategy will provide immunomodulatory strategies to enhance the host's immune response against this versatile pathogen.

Career History

2015-present: Post-doctoral (Individual Marie Curie) Fellow, Institute of Biology, University of Leiden, the Netherlands
Project title: Identifying host factors involved in staphylococcal infection
Supervisor: Prof. Annemarie Meijer

2014-2015: British Infection Association (BIA) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Project title: Staphylococcus aureus infection dynamics and the effect of antibiotic intervention
Supervisor: Prof. Simon Foster

2010-2014: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Project title: Within host S. aureus population dynamics using zebrafish and mammalian models
Supervisors: Prof. Simon Foster, Prof. Stephen Renshaw

2006-2010: PhD student, Department of Infection and Immunity, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Project title: Development and characterisation of zebrafish embryo model of S. aureus infection
Supervisors: Prof. Stephen Renshaw, Prof. Simon Foster, Dr Vincent Cunliffe

2004-2006: MSc student, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Project title: Heterologous overexpression and purification of putative sigma factor of S. aureus.
Supervisor: Prof. Jan Potempa

Teaching

Currently I am supervising MSc and BSc students on host-pathogen interaction projects in the Annemarie Meijer lab. In addition, I occasionally give a guest lecture in the Delft BSc course Applications of Model Organisms. Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding prospective MSc and BSc projects in our laboratory.