Biology

Dr. Rodney King, a member of the WKU Biology Department and University Distinguished Professor delivered the keynote address at the Viruses of Microbes conference held at Northumberland University, Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom (Jan 26-27, 2023). The UK conference featured talks on the biology of bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, and recent advances in phage therapy, the use of bacteriophage to fight infectious diseases. Dr. King’s talk “Using the nascent transcript to manipulate RNA polymerase activity:  Bacteriophage HK022 pulls out the stops” detailed a mechanism by which phage HK022 ensures its genes are fully expressed during infection, thus favoring the production of progeny virions. Dr. King’s talk included details from a recently published study he co-authored that provided important structural details about this unusual genetic regulatory mechanism. Dr. King, who is currently on sabbatical, is visiting Dr. Martha Clokie’s lab at the University of Leicester where he is learning about her work in phage therapy. Dr. Clokie is a world-renowned leader in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacterial infections and is the Director of the Centre for Phage Research at the University of Leicester.

For more information contact Dr. Rodney King (270) 745-6910, rodney.king@wku.edu