On 11 July 2019, Prof. Christian Giske from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm was presented with the Eurolife medal, following his Eurolife Distinguished Lecture on antimicrobial resistance. The medal was presented by Prof. Dr. E.J. (Ed) Kuijper, LUMC. The lecture was held on the occassion of the Eurolife Summer School titled: Immune modulation in human and animal infections: impact on health, disease and therapy, which was hosted by the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) on 8-12 July.

The lecture of Prof. Giske was titled: The dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in gram negative bacilli – can bacteriophages be used for treatment?

The Giske group works with translational research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with important clinical pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Many people carry resistant bacteria in their gut, but relatively few get sick. Christian Giske conducts research into the reason for this – who is at risk of becoming ill and how can the refractory bacteria be attacked.

About the Giske group

“The main topic of the research is multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli, mainly resistance conferred by extended-spectrum beta-lactamases and carbapenemases. Contributions of the group to this field in the past include the identification of epidemic clones of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that are responsible for a large part of the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in these species. The group has also worked extensively with Escherichia coli, most notably with the epidemic clone ST131 and its subclone H30-Rx. Gradually the focus has shifted towards pursuing explanations for the successfulness of these epidemic clones and to understand how they interact with the human microbiota. The focus has also shifted towards more experimental research, and more interventional and translational research.

The research group consists of two research teams: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) team, headed by the research group leader Professor Christian Giske MD/PhD and the intestinal pathogen team, headed by Associate professor Andreas Matussek, MD/PhD”.