Experience

University of Umea

• Higher Education
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Associate Professor/MIMS Group Leader

  • May 2013 - Present

  One of the past century’s great medical leaps was the discovery of penicillin. The substance kills bacteria by inhibiting the construction of their cell wall. Normally, the wall consists of long cross-linked molecules called peptidoglycans. Penicillin inhibits the cross-linking. Over the past few decades, researchers’ interest in bacteria cell walls has cooled. Current knowledge is limited to a few strains and has been developed under unnatural laboratory conditions. Now Felipe Cava's Lab is waking up this slumbering area of research. In an ambitious project, he will chart the characteristics of cell walls from a thousand different bacterial strains and how the environment can affect their construction. Among other things, Cava has discovered that certain bacteria release substances called non-canonical D-amino acids (NCDAA) into their surroundings. NCDAA can damage or reinforce the construction of other strains’ walls. Such interactions can influence our intestinal flora. Cava hopes that deeper knowledge about bacterial cell walls can contribute to the development of new antibiotics. Show less



Centro de Biologia Molecular "Severo Ochoa"

• Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)

• Ramon y Cajal Investigator/ Assistant Professor

  • Jan 2011 - May 2013

  Traditional ideas on peptidoglycan metabolism need to be deeply revisited and reassessed pondering the ecological niches of microorganisms. The investigation we propose aims to improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptive changes exhibited by the cell wall in response to antibiotics and other environmental challenges. To do so, we study peptidoglycan enzymology in response to stress conditions, regulation of beta-lactam resistance factors, and identification of the extra/intra-cellular signals that trigger these responses. We devote most of our efforts to identify and unravel the control mechanisms regulating cell activity via adaptive changes of cell wall structure and metabolism triggered by soluble effectors such as D-amino acids. The results should lead to the discovery of new pathways in the cell wall metabolism, which should provide a closer to real vision of peptidoglycan diversity in nature. The results from these studies will be of substantial help to better understand fundamental questions about bacterial social behavior in poly-microbial communities and adaptability against environmental challenges. Show less



Harvard Medical School

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• postdoctoral fellow

  • Nov 2007 - Dec 2010

  My studies are aimed at identifying the molecular mechanisms and protein morphogens that govern cell shape determination and maintenance in V. cholerae. Furthermore, I plan to investigate if and how cell shape influences V. cholerae pathogenicity. My studies are aimed at identifying the molecular mechanisms and protein morphogens that govern cell shape determination and maintenance in V. cholerae. Furthermore, I plan to investigate if and how cell shape influences V. cholerae pathogenicity.



Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

• Spain
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• PhD

  • 2000 - 2007

  Molecular microbiology in extreme thermophiles Molecular microbiology in extreme thermophiles



LCB-CNRS

• Pre-graduate fellow

  • Oct 2002 - Nov 2002

  Two Hybrid studies on the components of the Thermus thermophilus nitrate reductase respiration system Two Hybrid studies on the components of the Thermus thermophilus nitrate reductase respiration system