Abiola Olaitan

Abiola Olaitan is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo. He received his PhD from Aix-Marseille University in France, where he studied the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to last-line antibiotics, including carbapenems and polymyxins, across various Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. He pursued postdoctoral research in host-pathogen interactions, specifically investigating the organismal processes of bacterial infection recovery in Caenorhabditis elegans at both Duke University and Oregon Health and Science University (USA) with Professor Alejandro Aballay. Afterwards, he transitioned to studying the molecular mechanism of heme-dependent metronidazole resistance in Clostridioides difficile and its global epidemiology at Texas A&M University with Professor Julian Hurdle. The Olaitan laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of stress defense responses and antimicrobial resistance in C. difficile. His research has resulted in over 35 articles with more than 3,500 citations and an h-index of 27.