Email: jamie.hobbs@sheffield.ac.uk

Research profile and key clinical specialties

My group develops and applies atomic force microscopy (AFM) based techniques to understand the physical processes that constrain living systems.

A particular focus of the lab is on bacterial biophysics, and on the cell wall, growth, division, antibiotic action and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus, in collaboration with Prof Simon Foster in Sheffield.

Recent work has elucidated the molecular architecture of the bacterial cell wall (first paper below), and how it fails under the action of cell wall targeting antibiotics leading to cell death (2^nd paper below), and we are now focused on the impact of AMR.

Two key publications

• L Pasquina-Lemonche, J Burns, RD Turner, S Kumar, R Tank, N Mullin, JS Wilson, B Chakrabarti, PA Bullough, SJ Foster, JK Hobbs (2020) ‘The architecture of the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall’ Nature 582(7811), 294
• B Salamaga, L Kong, L Pasquina Lemonche, L Lafage, M Muhlen, JF Gibson, D Grybchuk, AK Tooke, V Panchal, EJ Culp, E Tatham, ME O’Kane, TE Catley, SA Renshaw, GD Wright, P Plevka, PA Bullough, A Han, JK Hobbs, SJ Foster (2021) ‘Demonstration of the role of cell wall homeostasis in Staphylococcus aureus growth and the action of bactericidal antibiotics’ PNAS 118(44) e2106022118

Possible PhD projects

• Changes in molecular architecture and surface chemistry in the bacterial cell wall and their influence on antimicrobial resistance.

More information

I have supervised many interdisciplinary PhDs including biologists, biochemists and physicists. My group is currently funded by Wellcome and UKRI.

Keywords: Atomic, AFM, bacterial, biophysics, Staphylococcus aureus, antimicrobial, antibiotic, Jamie, Hobbs, Sheffield

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