Frida Svanberg Frisinger

Email: frida.frisinger@sund.ku.dk
Twitter: @SvanbergFrida

Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Department for Veterinary and Animal Sciences
Stigbøjlen 4
1870 Frederiksberg C 

Education and experience

In June 2016, I obtained the degree ‘BSc in Biological Sciences with Honours in Biotechnology’ from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Through this 4-year programme, I was given the opportunity to study a wide range of topics within the field of biology. It was also during this time that I developed an interest for microbiology. For the last part of my programme, I therefore decided to specialise in biotechnology. Beyond lectures and practicals in microbiology and biotechnology, this honours track involved activities such as study visits and field trips to various companies and institutions, talks by researchers and people in the biotech business as well as training in scientific conduct.

As part of my programme, I carried out a smaller research project in Dr. Louise Horsfall’s group focusing on microbial production of metallic nanoparticles as a more sustainable manufacturing method, and comparing their antimicrobial activity to commercially available ones. This project helped me further develop my interest for the topic of novel and alternative approaches to combatting the issue of antimicrobial resistance.

In September 2017, I completed the programme ‘MSc in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology’ at Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Through this programme I got to further broaden my understanding of the field of biotechnology. Due to its multidisciplinary approach, I also had the opportunity to study new topics in biology, which helped me gain a better understanding of the field as a whole. The programme’s special focus on science communication ensured that we received training in research communication on different levels and through different media. I also had the opportunity to conduct a research project aiming to develop a high-throughput methodology for barcoding the human parasite Toxoplasma gondii using CRISPR. 

ESR 10: Identification of novel antimicrobials

Project description

Antimicrobial resistance among common human pathogens is a major issue. Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli is an important human pathogen, responsible for a large proportion of human infections each year. Such resistance renders many of the drugs currently available to fight infections ineffective, limiting the treatment options. There is therefore a pressing need for discovery and development of novel compounds with antimicrobial activity towards this important pathogen.

This project aims to develop a novel screening strategy to identify novel compounds with antimicrobial activity against E. coli. Target genes among the essential genome will be carefully selected to avoid gene products with commercially available inhibitors. Strains with hypomorphic expression of the targets will subsequently be generated. The developed strains will then be used for a drug screen using a library of microbial extracts, which is available at the collaborating partner Naicons, Italy.