20 September 2024 – After her bachelor degree from the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Biotechnology, Vesel obtained a Masters in the Netherlands and her PhD at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. She returned to her alma mater as a postdoc and was awarded an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2023.
Vesel works in the ERC Phagecontrol research group, led by Anna Dragoš. The lab focuses on Bacillus subtilis and the phage called SPβ, a regulatory switch phage which integrates in a specific gene involved in making spore coat during sporulation. Vesel says her work is particularly interesting as the bacteria and the phage work together almost in a symbiotic relationship.
Originally studying horizontal gene transfer, she became interested in phages after realizing that gene manipulation by mobile genetic elements can be very common.
“When I started discovering this, I saw that there was even more control, not just the interruption, but it’s also excision in some cases,” she says. “In this case it was a machinery that is used for natural competence, but also in some cases for escape from the phagosome, and in this case the phage excision was essential for the bacteria to survive inside the human host.”
Vesel’s EMBO Fellowship was awarded on her second attempt to apply, and she gives credit to the EMBO team for providing clear instructions and encouragement. “You’re guided through the process, so it made it much easier also to apply,” Vesel says.
