Research
I head the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunity Group in the Institute of Infection & Global Health. My area of expertise is in host pathogen interactions, in particular cellular immunity to respiratory bacterial infections. My training is in bacteriology and immunology (infection immunology), and in vivo infection modeling. My research group uses these multifaceted approaches to investigate how pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, GBS, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa cause disease and interact with host cellular immunity, in particular in regulation of infection and inflammation. To this end, we have developed clinically relevant mouse models of respiratory and systemic infection to elucidate mechanistic understanding of the disease processes involved and the host immune responses to infection.
As part of these efforts, we also work on the development of novel anti-bacterial therapeutics such as phage therapy, bacterial toxin inhibitors, phagocyte activators and the development of new vaccines through the Liverpool Centre for Global Vaccine Research. My most recent publications in these fields have been in Nature Microbiology, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, the AJRCCM and JACI amongst others. My research group currently consists of 8 PhD students, 4 postdocs and 2 Fellows. Our research is funded by MRC Programme and project grants, JPI-AMR funding, the Wellcome Trust, Meningitis Now, BBSRC, Innovate UK and most recently by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme as well as by industrial partners including GSK and Roche.
Bacterial vaccines
My group works on developing new vaccines to pathogens such as the pneumococcus, GAS and GBS. We have recently developed (after 8 years of funded research) a novel and cost-effective protein-based vaccine against pneumococcal disease. This vaccine was developed by the reverse vaccinology approach, using genomics, computational analysis, antigen discovery/selection and in vitro and in vivo functional assays and protection/immunisation models. Our work has led to a tripartite pneumococcal vaccine that provides universal coverage through antibody and cell mediated immune responses. This vaccine is now being taken forward by ReNewVax Ltd, a University of Liverpool spin-out company co-founded by myself and my postdoctoral scientist (Dr. Marie Yang), now CSO of ReNewVax. The company was created through seed funding awarded by Innovate ICURe and funding from the University of Liverpool’s Enterprise Investment Fund. We anticipate Phase 1 immunogenicity, safety and tolerability results in adults by end of 2025. In my group, we have ongoing vaccine work on GAS and GBS taking the same reverse vaccinology approach.
AMR - novel alternatives to antibiotics
We have clinically relevant and reproducible in vivo disease models to test for new treatments against AMR infections. Importantly, our models can also be used for pre-clinical testing of drug dosing strategies coupled to monitoring for resistance development and elucidation of the factors which may drive it i.e. improved efficacy of drug delivery to maximise the dose to infected cells while minimising exposure and thereby the development of AMR. Finally, our models can also be used to test novel antimicrobials in combination with existing antibiotics in dual therapy strategies to minimise the risks of AMR development. The models we have are unique and offer significant added value to our understanding of the development and treatment of AMR.
We currently use our clinically relevant models to test for novel alternatives to antibiotics, such as P4 peptide immunotherapy, phage therapy and liposome toxin sequestration therapy. Our work on toxin sequestration for example, has recently been published in Nature Biotechnology, our work on Pseudomonas aeruginosa adaptation and persistence during chronic lung infection in Nature Communications and our work on phage therapy against chronic lung infections in Thorax.
Finally, our work in this area is funded by the MRC, JPI-AMR, Horizon 2020 and industrial collaborators such as GSK, Roche, Grifols, and Neem Biotech.
Research groups
Research grants
CF- TRAILFINDER (CF- TRAILFINDER)
CYSTIC FIBROSIS TRUST (UK)
November 2024 - October 2029
Engineering synthetic phages with intrinsic biocontainment
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
May 2024 - May 2026
Bench fees - Fatin Abdulmouti A Alsalmi - (201752188)
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
January 2024 - January 2028
The evolutionary ecology of bacterial immune mechanisms
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
July 2021 - December 2022
Bench Fees - Fahad Mashwal
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
July 2021 - September 2024
The impact of thermally-regulated cell wall modifications on Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogenesis
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
December 2023 - November 2026
Noor Allehyani - Bench Fees
SHAQRA UNIVERSITY (SAUDI ARABIA)
June 2021 - September 2024
SPOR-COV: Prophylaxis of COVID-19 using Innate Immunity
INNOVATE UK (UK)
September 2020 - May 2022
Understanding host interactions with high consequence pathogens using super resolution light microscopy in biocontainment
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
August 2022 - July 2023
An evidence-based preclinical framework development antimicrobial therapeutics cystic fibrosis
CYSTIC FIBROSIS TRUST (UK)
October 2021 - September 2025
Does CRISPR-Cas imunity limit the efficacy of phage therapy
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
February 2021 - January 2024
Inhalable Aerosol Light Source for Controlling Drug-Resistant Bacterial Lung Infections - Light4Lungs
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
December 2019 - May 2024
Bench fees Hajar Ahmed AlQadeeb
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
January 2018 - January 2021
EEID travel grant: Environmental determinants of pneumococcal transmission and evolution
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
September 2019 - October 2019
Bench Fees for Tarfah Abdulrahman A Alshuhaytan
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
June 2019 - May 2023
The role of immune tolerance and regulation in pneumococcal carriage and invasive disease
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
June 2017 - August 2023
Mechanisms for acquisition and transmission of successful antibiotic resistant pneumococcal clones pre- and post-vaccination
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
July 2017 - September 2021
Identifying new members of virulence signalling networks: three new sensor kinases in the GacS network of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2015 - October 2018
Preclinical development and evaluation of a mucosal protein-based adjuvanted vaccine against pneumococcal meningitis and sepsis
MENINGITIS NOW (UK)
September 2016 - August 2019
Bench fees for SHAMSUL BAHRIN BIN GULAM ALI
MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT (MALAYSIA)
January 2016 - June 2019
Biofilm Disruption: Proof of Concept Study.
HOFFMANN-LA ROCHE, F, LTD (SWITZERLAND)
July 2015 - April 2017
Bench fees for Alessandra Romero Ramirez
PRESIDENCIA DEL CONSEJO DE MINISTROS (PERU)
September 2016 - September 2020
Discovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutations associated with chronic lung infection in children with CF.
ACTION MEDICAL RESEARCH (UK)
August 2017 - September 2021
2014 allocation - Wellcome ISSF non clinical fellowships
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
May 2015 - October 2018
Development of a novel nasal therapy containing antimicrobial peptides to treat MRSA carriage
SISAF LTD (UK)
October 2016 - April 2018
Bench Fees (Hind Jaber Al Thagafi)
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA, ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
October 2015 - September 2018
Personalising sepsis therapy in children through improved mechanistic understanding of phagocytic killing
ALDER HEY CHILDREN'S CHARITY (UK), ALDER HEY CHILDREN'S NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (UK)
September 2016 - March 2020
The Role Of The Blood-Brain Barrier During Pneumococcal Meningitis
THE TERESA ROSENBAUM GOLDEN CHARITABLE TRUST (THE ROSETREES TRUST) (UK)
January 2017 - December 2017
Commonwealth Scholarship UK: Bench Fees (Shadia)
COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSHIP COMMISSION (UK)
March 2015 - February 2018
P4-IVIG immunotherapy for adjunct treatment of severe respiratory infection with sepsis.
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
April 2015 - May 2017
Warwick Studentship
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK (UK)
October 2013 - March 2017
Mansoor Alsahag - Bench fees
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA
October 2014 - September 2015
Virulence adaptations within sequential cystic fibrosis isolates of Burkholderia cenocepacia
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (UK)
July 2013 - December 2014
How do interactions between S. pneumoniae and NT H. influenzae influence upper respiratory tract carriage density and duration?
GLAXOSMITHKLINE BIOLOGICALS S.A. (BELGIUM)
April 2014 - August 2016
Hesham Malak Bench Fees
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA
October 2012 - February 2015
Tackling superbugs by targeting their decision making networks during infection.
THE TERESA ROSENBAUM GOLDEN CHARITABLE TRUST (THE ROSETREES TRUST) (UK)
March 2014 - February 2015
Bridging and accelerating the translation of novel scientific findings for health and wealth gain
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
March 2014 - August 2015
Understanding the epidemiology of life threatening invasive Group A Streptococcal infections in Merseyside.
LIVERPOOL HEALTH PARTNERS (UK)
March 2013 - April 2013
The fast track development of novel therapeutics and vaccine candidates against pneumococcal meningitis
MENINGITIS UK
July 2013 - December 2015
Zuliza Mohamed - bench fees
MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA (MALAYSIA)
December 2014 - November 2017
Breno Salgado - bench fees
COORDENACAO DE APERFEICOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NIVEL SUPERIOR (CAPES) (BRAZIL)
August 2014 - September 2016
Candida-Bacteria Communication in Oral Biofilms
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
July 2013 - July 2016
Reham Omar Hassan Yahya (Bench Fees)
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA
October 2012 - January 2015
Research collaborations
Dr. Dan Neill
University of Dundee
Pneumococcal immunity/virulence/genomics
Prof. Jo Fothergill
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Phage therapy, AMR
Prof. Jim O'Gara
University of Galway
Staph. aureus pathogenesis, MRSA infections
Prof. Jay Hinton
Bacterial RNAseq
Prof. Neil French
Group A Streptococcus, Streptococcus pneumonaie, vaccine development
Prof. Stephen Gordon
LSTM
Streptococcus pneumoniae, experimental human challenge model, carriage
Dr. Steve Porter
University of Exeter
Pseudomonas aeruginosa signalling pathways
Dr. Martin Antonio
MRC Gambia
Streptococcus pneumoniae, vaccine development
Dr. Ed Lavelle
Trinity College Dublin
Novel vaccine development