Antimicrobial resistance research
Research Centre funding enabled former Christ Church Junior Research Fellow Dr Clare Rees-Zimmerman to undertake a research visit to the Complutense University of Madrid, where she collaborated with researchers using molecular modelling to investigate antimicrobial resistance. The visit supported new international partnerships, advanced the research and laid the foundations for future publication.
Project report: international collaboration on antimicrobial resistance research
During my Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church, I developed methods to analyse and understand the structures formed by particles in dispersion, with a focus on relating these structures to the interactions that generate them. To extend this work to mixtures relevant to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), I undertook a two-week research visit to Professor Chantal Valeriani's group at the Complutense University of Madrid, whose expertise lies in molecular dynamics simulations of active systems.
Working closely with postdoctoral researcher Dr José Martín-Roca, we carried out an iterative programme of simulations and analysis. We began by studying mixtures of passive particles to validate our analytical methods before progressing to mixtures of active and passive particles under conditions relevant to bacterial behaviour. Regular discussions with Professor Valeriani helped ensure that the simulations remained biologically relevant, drawing on her expertise in modelling biofilms.
One important outcome of this work was the observation that active particles in active–passive mixtures naturally form clusters, consistent with behaviour previously observed in purely active systems. In the context of AMR, clustering of living bacteria may play an important role in survival, making this a significant finding. These behaviours have now been analysed in detail using advanced quantitative structural analysis methods.
The visit also provided valuable opportunities for knowledge exchange. Dr Martín-Roca trained me to use the group's machine learning analysis code independently, while discussions with PhD student Barri Gutiérrez provided further insight into the behaviour of active particles. During the second week, my Christ Church host, Professor Dirk Aarts, joined the visit and our discussions helped shape the next stages of both the simulation and experimental work. The results will form the basis of a future journal publication.
Beyond the research itself, the visit enabled me to meet members of neighbouring research groups working on topics including magnetic nanoparticles for drug delivery and biofilm modelling. I also presented a departmental seminar on my work.
This research visit was funded through a combination of support from the Christ Church Research Centre and the Ineos Oxford Institute AMR Knowledge Exchange Fund.