The Foster Lab

The cell wall is essential for bacterial life and its synthesis is the target of crucial antibiotics such as penicillin and vancomycin.

We examine the structure and function of the cell wall to elucidate not only how it permits cell growth, but also how antibiotics lead to bacterial death.

We use the infamous “super bug” Staphylococcus aureus as our target organism to address key fundamental questions of bacterial life and death.

S. aureus is a major human pathogen of increasing importance due to the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Our research spans from the fundamental through to translational approaches, to investigate potential new treatments.

We use a range of models to investigate host-pathogen interactions. We examine how S. aureus establishes infection, and how infection progresses leading to dissemination.