Doctor Slade Jensen

Biography

From 2005-2010 I was a research only academic in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, and in July 2010 became a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney.

I am interested in microbial evolution and the mechanisms that facilitate genetic exchange between bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in the acquisition of new properties, such as pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance, and is therefore a driving force in “short-term” evolution, allowing bacteria to be masters of adaptation.

The development of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria is a major healthcare problem around the world and strains commonly become resistant by acquiring pre-existing resistance determinants from the bacterial gene pool. Mobile genetic elements play a central role in facilitating HGT and therefore promote the acquisition and spread of these resistance determinants. As such, bacterial populations can rapidly become resistant when exposed to an antimicrobial agent.

Strains of Staphylococcus aureus "Golden Staph” are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and most clinical strains contain multiple resistance plasmids. My research focuses on molecular mechanisms that contribute to the capacity of staphylococcal plasmids to acquire and maintain resistance genes in the absence of selective pressure.

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

  • Bacterial evolution
  • DNA segregation
  • Mobile elements
  • Genetic exchange
  • Multiresistance plasmids
  • Staphylococcus aureus

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Grants / Current Projects

2009-2011
NHMRC Project Grant
DNA segregation in multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus
Dr Neville Firth, Dr M Schumacher, Dr S Jensen, and Prof R Skurray

2007-2009
NHMRC Project Grant
Molecular mechanisms of plasmid maintenance in multiply-resistant staphylococci
Dr Neville Firth, Dr M Schumacher, Dr S Kwong, Dr S Jensen, and Prof R Skurray

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Selected Publications

Jensen, S.O., Sumalee, A., Kwong, S.M., Yang, Y.H., Skurray, R.A., Firth, N. (2010). Analysis of the prototypical Staphylococcus aureus multiresistance plasmid pSK1. Plasmid, Accepted.

Kwong, S. M., Jensen, S.O., Firth, N. (2010). Prevalence of Fst-like toxin-antitoxin systems. Microbiology, 156:975-977.

Ni, L.*, Jensen, S.O.*, Ky Tonthat, N., Berg, T., Kwong, S.M., Guan, F.H., Brown, M.H., Skurray, R.A., Firth, N., Schumacher, M.A. (2009). The Staphylococcus aureus pSK41 plasmid-encoded ArtA protein is a master regulator of plasmid transmission genes and contains a RHH motif used in alternate DNA-binding modes. Nucleic Acids Research, 37(20):6970-83.
*Joint first authors

Jensen, S.O., and Lyon, B.R. (2009). The genetics of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Future Microbiology, 4:565-82

Jensen, S.O., Kwong, S.M., Lyon, B.R. and Firth, N. (2008). Evolution of multiple drug resistance in staphylococci. Microbiology Australia, 29: 120-124

LeBard, R.J., Jensen, S.O., Arnaiz, I.A., Skurray, R.A. and Firth, N. (2008). A multimer resolution system contributes to segregational stability of the prototypical staphylococcal conjugative multiresistance plasmid pSK41. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 284: 58-67

Schumacher, M.A., Glover, T.C., Brzoska, A.J., Jensen, S.O., Dunham, T.D., Skurray, R.A. and Firth, N. (2007). Segrosome structure revealed by a complex of ParR with centromere DNA. Nature. 450: 1268-1271

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