Research
We are interested in understanding how simple gene regulatory events and biochemical processes become complex decision-making machines in individuals or at population levels is a key challenge in biology. The research in our group is to address fundamental questions concerning:
1) How bacterial cells sense their surroundings and coordinate their responses in population to survive or to cause infection e.g. quorum sensing; surface sensing.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa swarming
2) How bacterial cells interact with other microbes or host cells in complex and diverse communities in health and diseases e.g. multi-species biofilm in oral environments; biofilm-associated infections.
Escherichia coli biofilm on glass
3) How to harness microbial cells/communities for therapeutical or biotechnological purposes e.g., quorum quenching.
Quorum sensing inhibiting molecule docking into bacterial QS signal producing enzymes (Sci Rep 2014, 4: 7245)
Also, we are interested in exploring the broad bio-diversities in various environmental habitats to discover novel microorganisms and biocatalysts and to study their potential roles for anti-infectious and biotechnological applications. We have established several national and international research collaborations including in Bradford, Nottingham, Malaysia, and China.
We are welcoming anyone interested in microbes to join us and to explore their good, their bad, and their useful.
Current Research Team
Mandy Fengyi Wang (PhD student)
Pisit Charoenwongwatthana (PhD student)
Angeliki Marouli (PhD student)
Eve Apostel (PhD student)
Lucy Blackett (MRes student)
Jack Kiggins (MRes student)
Athalia Levinna (MRes student)
Megan Gunawan (MRes student)
Eloise Nelson (BSc student)
Previous Group Members
PhD
Dr Paul Norton
Dr Pavlos Trus
MSc/MRes
Alina Novikova
Bonolo Phinius
Emma Dobson
Nadhira Azzahra
Oslovenya Caroline
Athalia Levinna
Jason Chow
Charlotte Norton
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BSc
Ferdos Ali
Daniel Clucas
Georgina Young
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