Patricia Rimbi
PhD student
Roe Group Member: 2020 - Present
I graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA (Mod.) Immunology in 2019. I then moved to Glasgow and completed the MSc Infection Biology at the University of Glasgow in 2020. My MSc research project in the Roe Group was based on the transcriptional regulator DsdC in the extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) pathotype neonatal meningitis-associated E. coli (NMEC). I analysed ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis data that had been previously generated by Dr Nicky O’Boyle and Dr. Natasha Turner in the Roe Group.
Following the MSc, I started my PhD project in the Roe Group. My current project is focused on another ExPEC pathotype, uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). UPEC are the main causative agent of urinary tract infection, which is a common bacterial infection affecting millions of people each year. My project examines the expression of selected UPEC genes under different conditions using a combination of in vitro and in vivo work. Over the course of my PhD project, I have had the opportunity to supervise MSc and undergraduate students in the lab. I was on the organisation committee of the Glasgow Microbiology Collective 2022, a conference held by the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde. I also completed a three-month placement at GSK Vaccines, Siena.
My studentship is co-funded by the University of Glasgow, where I am co-supervised by Dr Gillian Douce and Professor Andrew Roe, and GSK Vaccines, Siena, where I am supervised by Dr Roberto Rosini.
Publications
Rimbi, P.T., O'Boyle, N., Douce, G.R., Pizza, M., Rosini, R. and Roe, A.J. (2024) 'Enhancing a multi-purpose artificial urine for culture and gene expression studies of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains', Journal of Applied Microbiology, 135(4), lxae067, available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jambio/lxae067.
Connolly, J.P., Turner, N.C., Serrano, E., Rimbi, P.T., Browning, D.F., O’Boyle, N. and Roe, A.J. (2022) 'Control of resistance against bacteriophage killing by a metabolic regulator in meningitis-associated Escherichia coli', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(45), e2210299119, available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210299119.
Connolly, J.P., Turner, N.C., Hallam, J.C., Rimbi, P.T., Flett, T., McCormack, M.J., Roe, A.J. and O'Boyle, N. (2021) 'd-Serine induces distinct transcriptomes in diverse Escherichia coli pathotypes', Microbiology, 167(10), 001093, available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001093.
