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Ryan Kean, Post Graduate Research Tutor in the Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, was recently awarded the Don Whitley Scientific (DWS) Travel Grant of £250. Ryan used the award to attend the 17th Biennial Congress of the Anaerobe Society of the Americas at the University of Michigan in July 2024.
The congress addressed both the clinical and microbiological aspects of anaerobes, including human diseases, animal diseases, and environmental conditions. It brought researchers, clinicians, laboratory technologists, and students together to discuss issues related to the study of anaerobes.
Ryan presented his laboratory’s research on novel antimicrobial therapies for bacterial vaginosis, the most common vaginal infection among women of reproductive age, associated with significant health effects such as pre-term birth and miscarriage. The team at Glasgow used two Whitley Anaerobic Workstations to facilitate their investigation.
We asked Ryan to share more about his research and his travel grant experience:
"We are interested in exploring new avenues for treatments against the main causative agent, Gardnerella vaginalis, a biofilm-forming facultative anaerobe. These treatment options include live biotherapeutic products, drug repurposing and bacteriophage-derived endolysins, which I presented on at the conference. Here we showed that endolysins are able to kill G. vaginalis in a species-specific manner both planktonically and in biofilm-form. Importantly, these show superior efficacy to commonly used antimicrobials such as metronidazole and show no off-target activity against beneficial Lactobacillus spp.
Alongside my post-doc, this was our first-time attending the Anaerobe Society of the Americas. We had a great time exploring a new conference and networking with leaders in the field. I am very grateful to DWS for supporting my attendance at the conference and for the equipment that facilitated our research."
We are excited to see our workstations being used in such an interesting field of research and we congratulate Ryan on receiving the DWS Travel Grant. If you are interested in our travel grants, please find more details on our website, or for more information on our Anaerobic Workstation range, please see the products below or email us at sales@dwscientific.co.uk
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