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CRISPR-cas in industrially relevant bacterial strains

Project type: This project is available to 1 Bachelor or Master students and is a part of the “PHAGEMID” grant from DFF-FTP

Phages cause enormous economic losses in food production, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Phage resistance is therefore often wanted to ensure stable production lines. This project proposal is focusing on screening for naturally occurring, adaptive phage-resistance mechanisms in industrially important bacteria. In a close collaboration with the industry you will contribute in developing phage-resistance strategies that can be directly applicable for industries were starter cultures are regularly applied e.g. dairy, meat and wine industry. Possible tasks: -DNA sequencing of bacterial strains -Bioinformatic analysis and screening for CRISPR-cas arrays -In vitro verification of CRISPR-cas activity

Supervisors: Lars H. Hansen (Professor), Witold Kot (PostDoc)