I am a molecular microbiologist by training. Following my PhD at the Håvarstein lab in Norway studying the phenomenon of pneumococcal fratricide, I studied transcription and cell cycle regulation in yeast and mechanisms involved in immortalization of cancer cells before returning to microbiology in 2013. I currently hold a postdoctoral fellowship at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health where my main organism of study is Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
I recently had a stay at UCL and continue to cooperate closely with several members of the group on various projects. I work in the interface of applied medical microbiology and fundamental evolutionary theory. Despite a sustained global research focus on M. tuberculosis and a number of gram negative pathogens over the past decade or so, we are witnessing drug-resistant isolates at such rates that it can only be described as a global emergency. There are a number of fundamental questions concerning the emergence of antimicrobial resistance that need to be answered urgently. I strongly believe that a deeper understanding of the fundamental forces driving the evolution of resistance is needed for us to efficiently combat these bacteria now and in the future.