Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

The in vivo virulence of 18 clinical isolates and three reference isolates belonging to four different strains of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were evaluated using the Galleria mellonella invertebrate model. All isolates were also sent for virulence profiling, i.e. sequencing of specific virulence factors. 

1. Compare the virulence of different isolates and strains of S. aureus in the G. mellonella model.

2. Validate the ability of the CHI scoring system and CHI score AUC of assessing and comparing virulence of MRSA.

3. Relate the virulence in the G. mellonella model to possible gene patterns in the virulence profile.

4. Assessing the relevance of the G. mellonella model for studying the virulence of different MRSA isolates.