The disputation will also be live streamed using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defense will moderate the disputation.
The event opens for participation just before it starts, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after it has begun.
Join the Zoom event here
Trial lecture
The candidate will first give a trial lecture on the following topic: 'Post-Colonization Evolution of Probiotic Bacteria'
Time and place: Feb. 5, 2026 10:15 AM, Nucleus, Bikuben, Kristine Bonnevies hus
Main research findings
The PhD project produced new knowledge about antibiotic resistance and mobile elements in the infant gut microbiota. It was already known that infants have more antibiotic resistance within their gut compared to mothers or other adults. The thesis provides additional evidence of higher abundance of both antibiotic resistance and mobile elements. The bacterial species Escherichia coli was found as a main contributor of these high abundances. Fortunately, Escherichia coli is generally replaced by more favorable species during the maturation of the infant gut microbiota.
However, there is a reasonable concern that antibiotic resistance genes are transferred to pathogens during early life. Disease caused by the now resistant pathogen can be difficult to treat. Plasmids, one of the mobile elements, can carry and transfer antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria. To study plasmids within the complex ecosystem of the human infant gut is methodologically challenging. The thesis significantly improves current (bioinformatic) methods for assignment of plasmids to their bacterial host. This will aid future studies to uncover bacterial hosts of resistance plasmids within a complex ecosystem. Moreover, the method gives an indication of plasmid transfer risk when multiple species or genera are associated with the same plasmid.
Adjudication committee
Dr. Eitan Yaffe, Stanford University
Ass. Prof. Luisa Warchavchik Hugerth, Uppsala University
Prof. Finn-Eirik Johansen, University of Oslo
Chair of defense
Prof. Asbjørn Vøllestad, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Supervisors
Dr. Pål Trosvik, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Dr. Eric de Muinck, Department of Biosciences & Department of Pharmacology, University of Oslo