Rodrigo Ibarra-Chavez, PhD

My research has mainly focused on studying and engineering phage satellites. Phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) represent a widespread family of highly mobile genetic elements that disseminate virulence and toxin genes among bacterial populations. They parasitise prophages for their propagation and exploit phage-encoded capsids to spread horizontally. My goal is to apply these family of newcomers to develop new methods and alternatives to current antimicrobials.