Kate Baker

Kate Baker is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow studying the impact of how the genetic background of antimicrobial resistance impacts transmission and epidemiological success of the resistance in bacterial populations.

Who are you a fellow for?

I am a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow.

When did you start your fellowship?

October 2016.

What were you doing prior to your fellowship?

I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Why did you choose to undertake your fellowship with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences?

Mostly because of Liverpool’s strength in infection research.

How does the Wellcome Trust fund your work?

The Wellcome Trust funds salary, the research budget for my fellowship work, and has also been kind enough to provide salary extensions for maternity leave and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Total £305,000).

What do you study/ what is the aim of your research?

I am studying the impact of how the genetic background of antimicrobial resistance impacts transmission and epidemiological success of the resistance in bacterial populations.

What inspired you to look at this field?

My PhD was on zoonotic viruses, which are independent genetic elements moving around between host populations. Once I started working bacterial genomics, I could see a lot of parallels for the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance. For further information visit my lab website.