Professor Marthie Ehlers' research activities extends over 28 years and she has been a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher since 2007. Her research focuses on clinically relevant bacterial pathogens associated with infectious diseases from a clinical and One health perspective. Special emphasis is on genomic characteristics, antibiotic resistance and antibiotic mechanisms as well as genetic relatedness of these pathogens. Pathogens under investigation include: methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), other Staphylococcus species, Enterococcus species, Clostridium difficile and members of the family Enterobacteriaceae [pathogenic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and Salmonella (typhoidal and non-typhoidal)] and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Genetic versatility of these pathogens facilitated the evolution of virulent and antibiotic resistance strains, resulting in a major and constantly changing clinical challenge. Continuous surveillance forms a crucial part of this research. Diverse genotyping techniques are implemented to monitor the emergence of epidemic and pandemic clonal complexes while whole genome sequencing analysis is used to elucidate the unique resistome, mobilome and virulome of these pathogens. This research envisages to determine the potential public health risk and to better understand the interplay between; ecology, evolutionary dynamics and natural selection in the prediction and prevention of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Microbiome and metagenomics studies focusing on respiratory diseases include: cystic fibrosis (CF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis in the context of HIV infection] to provide new knowledge to improve patient treatment and a better understanding and insight into these polymicrobial infections while environmental water samples are investigated to determine the potential public health risk from an One Health perspective.
