Higher Degree by Research Application Portal

Staphylococcus aureus is understood to occasionally cause bacterial superinfection of people with respiratory viral infections, particularly those due to influenza virus. However, recent data from my proposed supervisors suggests that children who have nasopharyngeal colonization with S. aureus are less likely to develop symptomatic disease when infected with RSV, than children who are not colonized by S. aureus. This is in keeping with previous epidemiological observations by other researchers. S. aureus is known to inhibit innate immune responses to establish colonization in the nasal cavity, and strong innate immune responses are known to be associated with increased severity of RSV disease. In this PhD I will use samples from human subjects infected with RSV with or without S. aureus to compare innate immune profiles by RNASeq. In parallel, I will develop a model of S. aureus and influenza virus coinfection on a primary human airway epithelial cell model to explore the underlying mechanisms. Improved understanding of how bacterial infection can modulate the immune response to RSV may identify avenues for therapeutic manipulation to prevent or treat severe RSV disease.

Australian NHMRC

Telethon 7 Trust

Western Australian Child Health Research Fund

Prof. Mark Nicol

mark.nicol@uwa.edu.au

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a program of independent, supervised research that is assessed solely on the basis of a thesis, sometimes including a creative work component, that is examined externally. The work presented for a PhD must be a substantial and original contribution to scholarship, demonstrating mastery of the subject of interest as well as an advance in that field of knowledge. 

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