Tom Defoirdt
Prof. Dr. ir. Tom Defoirdt is leading the Bacterial Activity Management (BAM) group within the Center of Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET) at Ghent University. His research aims at overcoming an important societal challenge: the development of new treatments to treat bacterial diseases in an era in which antibiotics are losing their efficacy. Tom Defoirdt performs strategic and applied research in the field of antivirulence therapy, a novel strategy that aims at 'disarming' pathogens rather than killing them. Over the past 15 years, he has been investigating the mechanisms that determine the virulence of bacterial aquaculture pathogens (Vibrio spp.) in order to develop novel therapeutics. In particular, he has been studying the impact of bacterial cell-to-cell communication (quorum sensing) on the virulence of aquaculture pathogens and methods to interfere with this communication (quorum quenching). This work has increased the general understanding of the development and abatement of bacterial disease.
