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Communicable Diseases

Our clinical microbiologists are working with practitioners to: Improve understanding of the host response to transmissible agents in health and disease; develop innovative approaches for early, sensitive and specific diagnosis, control and treat infectious diseases; design new drug treatments which are effective against resistant organisms; develop improved medicines through formulation or delivery; evaluate the efficacy of anti-infectives in vivo; improve practitioner understanding to ensure appropriate and effective use of anti-infectives within the healthcare environment.

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Our key researchers and their research interests are summarised below:

Dr Andrew Devitt
  • Innate Immunity
  • Cell Death
  • Phagocytosis
  • Inflammation
Dr Bill Fraser
  • Solid phase chemical synthesis
  • Antisense/antigene technology
  • Molecular recognition
  • Heterocyclic synthesis
Dr Peter J Hanson
  • Inflammation
  • Cell Death
  • TLRs
  • Gastrointestinal Physiology
  • Pharmacology

 

Dr Anthony C Hilton
  • Applied & Molecular Microbiology
  • Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, MRSA & Clostridium difficile 

 

Prof Peter A Lambert
  • Microbial pathogenicity
  • Antibiotics
  • Microbial envelope
Dr Lindsay J Marshall
  • Mucosal Immunity
  • In vitro models of respiratory disease

 

 

 

Dr Dan L Rathbone
  • Design, synthesis and screening of new antimycobacterial and antimicrobial compounds
  • Computer aided drug design
  • Molecular recognition in fluorescent imprinted polymers and their use as sensors and receptor mimics 
  • Design and synthesis of transglutaminase inhibitors 
Dr Ann Vernalis
  • Inflammation
  • Cytokines
  • Responses to infection
Dr Tony Worthington
  • Clinical Microbiology
  • Hospital-acquired infections
  • MRSA & Clostridium difficile
  • Intravascular devices &
  • prosthetic joints
  • Antimicrobial agents, skin antisepsis

 

 

Dr Qinguo Zheng
  • Development of novel methodologies for synthesis of modified nucleic acids and peptide nucleic acids, and their use as potential antisense therapeutic agents.
  • Oxidative DNA damage.
  • Therapeutic natural products and their derivatives.
  • Development of novel reagents for organic synthesis.