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Contact Details

Phone
64 3 479 7869
Email
iain.lamont@otago.ac.nz
Position
Emeritus Professor
Department
Department of Biochemistry
Qualifications
BSc (Edin) DPhil (Oxon)
Research summary
Molecular basis of infectious disease
Teaching
Biochemistry; genetics; molecular biology
Clinical
Interests: cystic fibrosis; bronchiectasis, antibiotic resistance

Research

Iain has a long-standing interest in the molecular genetics of bacteria that cause infectious disease.

He and his research team have a particular focus on the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa that causes a wide range of infections such as chronic infections in patients in cystic fibrosis.

During infection the bacteria secrete a number of agents that contribute to the pathogenic process. These include numerous proteins and an iron-scavenging compound called pyoverdine. Iain and his team are also using a wide range of biochemical, molecular biological, and genetic approaches to study the way in which pyoverdine contributes to infection and how it is made.

P. aeruginosa become very resistant to antibiotics during infection and highly resistant strains ("superbugs") are some of the most problematic infectious bacteria on the planet. Iain and his research team are using genetic, bioinformatic and molecular approaches to understand how P. aeruginosa becomes resistant to antibiotics with the long term goal of better management of infections.

Current research areas include:

  • Understanding how P. aeruginosa resists antibiotics

  • How does P. aeruginosa exist in the environment, and during infection?

  • Genomics and comparative genomics of Pseudomonas

Publications

Xu, C., Feng, J., Zhou, Y., Ren, H., Pan, X., Chen, S., … Lamont, I. L., Pletzer, D., & Wu, W. (2025). Azithromycin represses evolution of ceftazidime/avibactam resistance by translational repression of rpoS in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Journal of Bacteriology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1128/jb.00552-24 Journal - Research Article

Krittaphol, W., Martin, L. W., Lamont, I. L., & Walker, G. F. (2025). A sensitive reverse-phase ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of tobramycin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa cell lysate. Journal of Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Analysis, 260, 116743. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2025.116743 Journal - Research Article

Krittaphol, W., Martin, L. W., Walker, G. F., & Lamont, I. L. (2025). Anaerobiosis and mutations can reduce susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to tobramycin without reducing the cellular concentration of the antibiotic. Pathogens, 14, 187. doi: 10.3390/pathogens14020187 Journal - Research Other

Glen, K. A., & Lamont, I. L. (2024). Characterization of acquired β-lactamases in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and quantification of their contributions to resistance. Microbiology Spectrum. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00694-24 Journal - Research Article

Glen, K. A., & Lamont, I. L. (2024). Penicillin-binding protein 3 sequence variations reduce susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to β-lactams but inhibit cell division. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkae203 Journal - Research Article

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