Jonatan Martin Rodriguez

Jonatan Martin Rodriguez

Senior Research Specialist
Visiting address: Solnavägen 9, Biomedicum, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C1 Mikrobiologi, tumör- och cellbiologi, C1 CTMR Engstrand Juan Du, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • My field of expertise is bacterial physiology and I am a recognized expert in
    the biology of bacteria of the genus Shewanella. My research lines focus 


  • on three inter-related areas:
    1-Respiration-induced biofilm formation (RIBF).
    2-Genomics of Shewanella spp.
    3-Antibiotic resistance from a One-Health perspective.


    Grants after PhD completion:

    2022 Karolinska Institutet Junior Investigator Award for SDG-related 


  • research.
    2022 Längmanska Kulturfonden: BA22-0537 (main applicant).
    2021 ERA-NET Project /PARRTAE/ - Probing Antibiotic Residues and Resistance
    Transfer in Aquatic Environments (Reference Number: ID 351, participating
    researcher).
    2020 Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation: 2020‐01556 (main
    applicant).
    2020 Hans Dahlbergs Stiftelse (main applicant).
    2020 Längmanska Kulturfonden: BA20-0736 (main applicant).
    2019 Anna and Gunnar Vidfelts Fond for Biological Research: 2019-051 (main
    applicant).
    2019 Lars Hiertas Minne Stiftelse: FO19-0293 (main applicant).
    2019 Längmanska Kulturfonden: BA19-1128 (main applicant).
    2018 Lars Hiertas Minne Stiftelse: FO2018-0196 (main applicant).
    2018 Hans Dahlbergs Stiftelse (main applicant).
    2018 Karolinska Instituet Research Foundation Grant: FS-2018:0007 (main
    applicant).
    2016 FEMS Research grant: RG-2015-0084 (main applicant).
    Commissions of trust:
    2022 Guest Editor for Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology,  

  • Rising Stars in Biofilms 2022.
    2020 Curator for the Shewanella spp. MLST database available at PubMLST 

  • https://pubmlst.org/shewanella/
    2017 Guest Editor for 
  • Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, special issue
    on ‘Recent advances in anti-biofilm strategies’.
    Review board member of 
  • Frontiers in Microbiology, Frontiers in Cellular
    and Infection Microbiology, and 
  • Microorganisms

     


  • 2016 - PhD, Biomedical Sciences. University of La Laguna (Spain).
    2012 - MSc Biotechnology. University of La Laguna (Spain).
    2011 - MSc Oceanography. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain).
    2008 - BSc + MSc Industrial Engineering, esp. Chemistry. University of Las
    Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain).

Research

  • Biofilm physiology: Respiration-induced biofilm formation (RIBF)
    My research focuses on the association between respiration phenomena and
    bacterial colonization of biotic and abiotic substrata through biofilm
    formation. I try to unravel the physiological and signalling mechanisms
    linking these two prima facie unrelated processes.
    In the marine indigenous bacterium and emerging pathogen /Shewanella algae/,
    my research has shown a strain-specific association between respiration of
    alternative electron acceptors and biofilm formation, and I have demonstrated
    that it is the anaerobic reduction of these compounds that triggers
    downstream events leading to surface colonization. Our efforts are now
    focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating this response,
    with a special focus on taxis and c-di-GMP signaling.
    I have expanded this respiration-biofilm tandem interplay to other bacterial
    models (uropathogenic Escherichia coli), where I have been able to find 


  • associations with implications in infectivity. I currently explore the
    role of respiratory nitrate utilization in biofilm-related processes in
    other E. coli pathotypes. 

  • Genomics
    New times bring new technologies, and whole genome sequencing has
    revolutionized many ‘gold standards’ in classic microbiology. I am
    interested in gaining a deeper understanding on S. algae/Shewanella spp. diversity and 

  • evolution through genome sequence analysis to correlate genomic composition
    with phenotypic diversity and niche occupation. While doing so, we are also making 

  • efforts to shed light on the taxonomy of Shewanella spp. We plan to apply similar approaches to gain a better understanding on the colonization of organ niches by distinct strains of human-associated microorganisms. 

  • Antibiotic resistance
    Antibiotic resistance is a global threat, perhaps one of the most important
    challenges for humankind in the coming decades. I am interested in the
    environmental dimension of this phenomenon and the transmission of antibiotic
    resistance determinants from environmental to pathogenic bacteria. I
    currently lead projects that interrogate host specificity of mobile elements
    in Shewanella spp. and Vibrio spp. in aquatic environments, both in the 

  • water column and in sediments. Efforts are also devoted to determining levels
    of antibiotic residues and relating them to the presence and transmission of
    mobile genetic elements including antibiotic resistance determinants.

Teaching

  • -Supervision of diverse BSc and MSc theses in Sweden and abroad.
    -Co-supervision of 2 PhD candidates (ongoing).
    >

  • 200 h of teaching (Microbiology) at different levels (BSc, MSc, PhD courses,
    laboratory courses, etc.), including opponent in B. Sc. and M. Sc. programs
    in Sweden and abroad.
    -8 weeks of pedagogical training in Sweden.
    -Accredited competence as Senior Lecturer (Assoc. Prof.) by the National
    Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (approximately
    equivalent to Docentur).

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