Question: Hi Emma, it seems bacteria are really starting to evolve and are moving one step ahead of us. I am always hearing in the news about bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant. Would your work on disocvering why Pseudomonas aeruginosa switches to become antiobiotic resistant apply to other bacertria that are also becomming resistant?

Emma Stevenson answered on 15 Nov 2017:

A really great question! I think I have answered this a little bit in your other question. There are a whole load of ways that bacteria become resistant. Most bacteria acquire new DNA that means they become resistant to an antibiotic that they weren’t before. Pseudomonas is a bit different, it forms a community of bacteria. When they are in this community then antibiotics are relatively unable to penetrate it and kill them. There are only a certain number of bacteria that form these communities, so we could definitely use some of our finding to relate to these bacteria.