Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
My laboratory is interested in understanding how bacteria, especially the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are able to regulate their activities under conditions that prevent active growth. Often in natural environments, including infections, bacteria encounter resource limitation that prevents them from being able to grow and divide. However, sensitive measurements have shown that they are still able to produce proteins at low rates under these conditions. The regulatory mechanisms that are involved are not well understood. Gaining insight into this regulatory context is important because non-growing bacteria are highly tolerant of antibiotics, and can contribute to chronic infections. Understanding how these non-growing, antibiotic-tolerant bacteria are regulating their low levels of biosynthetic activity could give us new insight into strategies to treat chronic infection and combat the rise of antibiotic resistance.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, The regulation of pre-mRNA splicing in response to environmental stress in budding yeast, University of California at San Francisco
Award Date: 31 Dec 2010
Master in Science, Effects of the Hepatitis B virus X protein on cellular mRNA stability, University of Otago
Award Date: 9 May 2004
Bachelor of Science, A genetic and biochemical analysis of the role of TSG8 in the DNA damage response of budding yeast, Pennsylvania State University
Award Date: 5 May 2001
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Development Of A Drug Discovery Platform Targeting Salmonella Typhimurium PersisterCells
Bergkessel, M., Coulthurst, S., Gilbert, I. & Read, K.
14/10/21 → 1/09/24
Project: Research
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Measuring Activity Dynamics in Non-growing Populations of Bacteria.
15/06/20 → 14/08/23
Project: Research
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An anti-biofilm cyclic peptide targets a secreted aminopeptidase from P. aeruginosa
Harding, C. J., Bischoff, M., Bergkessel, M. & Czekster, C. M., Sept 2023, In: Nature Chemical Biology. 19, p. 1158–1166 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
Bacterial defenses against a natural antibiotic promote collateral resilience to clinical antibiotics
Meirelles, L. A., Perry, E. K., Bergkessel, M. & Newman, D. K., 10 Mar 2021, In: PLoS Biology. 19, 3, 42 p., e3001093.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile18 Citations (Scopus)94 Downloads (Pure) -
Bacterial transcription during growth arrest
Bergkessel, M., 2021, In: Transcription. 12, 4, p. 232-249 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)53 Downloads (Pure) -
Diversity in Starvation Survival Strategies and Outcomes among Heterotrophic Proteobacteria
Bergkessel, M. & Delavaine, L., 1 Aug 2021, In: Microbial Physiology. 31, 2, p. 146-162 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile14 Citations (Scopus)60 Downloads (Pure) -
Images of Microbiology
Bergkessel, M., Cameron, A., Coulthurst, S., De Rycker, M., Dorfmueller, H., Hardee, E., Houghton, L., Floyd, A., Fomina, M., Gadd, G. M., Hsu, C-Y., Kalamara, M., Kang, X., Mackintosh, A., Mansoor, S., Manthri, S., Rosazza, T., Stephenson, K., Thomas, J., Walker, L., & 1 others , May 2021, 33 p. Dundee : University of Dundee.Research output: Other contribution
Open AccessFile2417 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Effects of different concentrations of PYO on the expression of the P. aeruginosa oxidative stress response genes ahpB and katB
Meirelles, L. A. (Creator), Perry, E. K. (Creator), Bergkessel, M. (Creator) & Newman, D. K. (Creator), figshare, 10 Mar 2021
Dataset
Prizes
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Biological and Biomedical Sciences Education Learning and Teaching Awards
Stanley-Wall, Nicola (Recipient), Bergkessel, Megan (Recipient), Dorfmueller, Helge (Recipient) & Coulthurst, Sarah (Recipient), 10 May 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Magnificent Microbes 2022
Erin Hardee (Organiser), Nicola Stanley-Wall (Participant), Jess Newport (Participant), Ruth Hernandez (Participant), Sarah Coulthurst (Participant), Gabriela Mol Avelar Tamaki (Participant), Margarita Kalamara (Participant), Lukas Eigentler (Participant), Davide Bulgarelli (Participant), Senga Robertson-Albertyn (Participant), Natalie Bamford (Participant), Carmen Escudero-Martinez (Participant), Julia Soh (Participant), Matthew Watt (Participant), Beatrice Ward (Participant), Thibault Rosazza (Participant), Tracy Bayliss (Participant), Megan Bergkessel (Participant), Helge Dorfmueller (Participant), Rupa Nagar (Participant), Sofia Arnaouteli (Participant), Fabio Tamaki (Participant), Geoffrey Michael Gadd (Participant), Joana Moreira (Participant) & Dione Turnbull (Contributor)
25 Apr 2022 → 6 May 2022Activity: Other activity types › Schools engagement
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Life Sciences Work Experience Week 2022
Erin Hardee (Organiser), Megan Bergkessel (Participant), Thibault Rosazza (Participant), Henry McSorley (Participant), Kasper Rasmussen (Participant), Nur Kocaturk (Participant), Phoebe Crawley (Participant), Alexander Agrotis (Participant), Adrien Rousseau (Participant), Gopal Sapkota (Participant), Lorraine Glennie (Participant), Michael Hannan (Participant), Paul Appleton (Participant), Fabio Tamaki (Participant) & Ian Newton (Participant)
25 Jul 2022 → 29 Jul 2022Activity: Other activity types › Schools engagement
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Microbe Zone at Dundee Science Centre
Megan Bergkessel (Contributor), Amy Cameron (Contributor), Sarah Coulthurst (Contributor), Manu De Rycker (Contributor), Helge Dorfmueller (Contributor), Erin Hardee (Contributor), Lewis Haughton (Contributor), Ali Floyd (Contributor), Marina Fomina (Contributor), Geoffrey Michael Gadd (Contributor), Chih-Yu Hsu (Contributor), Margarita Kalamara (Contributor), Xia Kang (Contributor), Ailsa Mackintosh (Contributor), Saria Mansoor (Contributor), Sujatha Manthri (Contributor), Thibault Rosazza (Contributor), Karen S. Stephenson (Contributor), John Thomas (Contributor), Louise Walker (Contributor) & Nicola Stanley-Wall (Organiser)
2021Activity: Other activity types › Other
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Regulation of gene expression during growth arrest in bacteria
Megan Bergkessel (Speaker)
5 Mar 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Transcription during growth arrest in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Megan Bergkessel (Speaker)
14 Jul 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk