Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

1
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology Seminar Series, First Semester
2009 Wednesday 13th May, 4pm Lecture Theatre M3,
Building 13A
Dr. Dena Lyras Monash department of
Microbiology The role of Clostridium difficile
toxins in disease.
Dena has worked at Monash since 1993. During this
time she has worked extensively on antibiotic
resistance, plasmid and transposon biology and
developing genetic systems for the manipulation
of the Clostridia. Clostridium difficile is the
leading cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals
worldwide, because of its virulence and
spore-forming ability. The role of the major
virulence factors, toxin A and toxin B, in the
context of a C. difficile infection was
previously not known. Her group has constructed
toxin mutants of a C. difficile strain and used
them in a hamster disease model to show that
toxin B, not toxin A, is essential for virulence,
which represents a major paradigm shift.
Food and Drinks to follow in Foyer of Bld 77