Team members Larsson group
Present team members
Joakim Larsson, Professor in Environmental Pharmacology
Director, Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research (CARe) at University of Gothenburg
The Larsson group is engaged in research on several aspects of antibiotic resistance, but has a particular expertise in the environmental dimensions, spawning from a long-standing interest in pharmaceuticals in the environment.
Dr Carl-Fredrik Flach, Associate Professor (medical microbiology), Co-principal Investigator
Main research topic: Wastewater and antibiotics
Dr Roelof Coertze, Postdoctoral researcher
Roelof obtained his PhD at the North-West University, South Africa, in 2020. His thesis entailed research on the prevalence and diversity of AmpC beta-lactamase antibiotic resistance genes in aquatic environments. Following his PhD, Roelof started a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Free State and his research focused on molecular characterization of double stranded RNA viruses. In 2021, Roelof undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Gothenburg where he is currently employed.
Dr Mutshiene Deogratias Ekwanzala, Postdoctoral researcher
Deo is a qualified biotechnologist and trained microbiologist in water quality and wastewater management. He holds a PhD in Water Science and Technology from the Tshwane University of Technology (Pretoria, South Africa). He worked as a microbiologist at MicroChem Lab Services (Benoni, South Africa) and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Kyung Hee University (Yongin-si, South Korea), exploring the RNA virome of sewage before joining GU. At GU, he is involved in “the selection of antimicrobial resistance in the environment” and BIOCIDE projects.
Dr Declan Gray, Postdoctoral researcher
Declan received his PhD in Bioscience at Newcastle University studying the survival of Bacillus subtilis under starvation conditions. He continued working with B. subtilis at the University of Amsterdam looking into ROS production during valinomycin treatment. After which he moved back to Newcastle University to perform a Post-Doc with Prof. Bert van den Berg and Dr. David Bolam looking into SusCD-mediated glycan import by the gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Currently Declan is investigating hospital wastewater, trying to identify the selective agent.
Dr Nhung Nguyen Thi, Postdoctoral researcher
Nhung received her PhD in Life Science from the Open University, United Kingdom in 2023. With background on microbiology and epidemiology, her previous research centered on understanding the dynamics and drivers of AMR in livestock production in Vietnam. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of Gothenburg where she is exploring the key factors selecting for AMR in hospital wastewater.
Dr Zhuofeng Yu, Postdoctoral researcher
Zhuofeng did his PhD in Prof. Søren Sørensen’s group at the University of Copenhagen. He has a background in biochemistry and environmental microbiology. He is interested in mobile genetic elements (particularly plasmids) mediated horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance in the wastewater environment. He is currently involved in the Global Sewage Project, investigating the selection potential of global sewage for different antibiotic resistances.
Gilbert Osena, PhD student
Gilbert is a PhD student in Joakim Larsson’s group with an interest in AMR surveillance. His research topic assesses the value of wastewater-based surveillance in predicting clinical antibiotic resistance. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Biotechnology and a Master of Science in Genetics from the University of Nairobi.
Noel Waters, PhD student
Noel is a first-year PhD student in the Larsson group, with an interest in statistics and bioinformatics. He holds a BSc in Biotechnology and an MSc in Engineering Mathematics and Computational Science from Chalmers University of Technology. Through statistical methods, he is currently researching sewage selection of antibiotic resistance in sewage.
Anum Shaukat, Research assistant
Anum holds a degree in Medical Science from Uppsala University, with a major in molecular biology and microbiology. She is currently working as a research assistant in Prof. Joakim Larsson’s group, where she assists researchers in conducting experiments for the research projects and aiding in various research activities.
Dr Martin Palm, Postdoctoral researcher
Martin is a microbiologist with a passion for large-scale data, specializing in the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance. He did his PhD at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg where he combined wet-lab and computational techniques to study the mechanisms of bacterial conjugation, and growth characteristics of E. coli exposed to sub-inhibitory levels of antibiotics. During his time as a postdoctoral researcher in the Larsson/Flach group, he is studying factors impacting horizontal gene transfer as well as performing and developing wastewater-based antibiotic resistance surveillance techniques.
Julián Bobis Camacho, PhD student
Julián is a third-year PhD student at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Gothenburg, under the supervision of Prof. Carl-Fredrik Flach. Julian has a background both in biomedicine and in molecular microbiology. The aim of his PhD project here at Sahlgrenska is to develop and test a sewage-based surveillance system to monitor antibiotic resistance in human pathogens like E. coli or Klebsiella spp.
Yvan Karuke, Research assistant
Yvan is a research assistant in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Gothenburg. Yvan's background is in clinical microbiology and molecular biology. He is currently working on the project: Sewage monitoring – a new, resource-efficient method for population-based surveillance of antibiotic resistance, under the supervision of Carl-Fredrik Flach.
Previous Postdoctoral Team Members
Dr Stefan Ebmeyer
Dr Fanny Berglund
Dr Marion Hutinel
Dr Nadine Kraupner
Dr Nicolas Keiffer
Dr Jennie Sjöhamn
Dr Maria-Elisabeth Böhm
Dr Carolin Rutgersson
Dr Sazzad Karim
Dr Johan Bengtsson-Palme
Dr Antti Karkman
Dr Patricia Huijbers
Dr Nachiket Marathe
Dr Jekaterina Jutkina
Dr Carl-Johan Svensson
Dr Stathis Kotsakis
Dr Sara Lundström
Dr Lina Gunnarsson
Dr Bethanie Carnie-Almroth
Dr Anders Janzon
Dr Marija Svijovic
Dr Erik Kristiansson
Dr Jeffrey N Brown
Dr Bart Adriaenssens
Dr Linda M Samuelsson
Dr Anna Holmberg
Dr Noomi Asker
Graduated PhD students
Dr Stefan Ebmeyer
Dr Marion Hutinel (co-supervision)
Dr Mohammad Razavi
Dr Jessica Guzman-Otazo (co-supervision)
Dr Fanny Berglund (co-supervision)
Dr Chandan Pal
Dr Johan Bengtsson-Palme
Dr Anna Bylander
Dr Anna Johnning
Dr Carolin Rutgersson
Dr Filip Cuklev
Dr Lina Gunnarsson
Dr Magdalena Nutu
Dr Anders Friberg (co-supervision)
Dr Eva Albertsson (co-supervision)
Dr Andreas Kullgren (co-supervision)