Infectious disease transmission and biology
Infectious disease research in Health and Medicine includes microbiology, virology and parasitology, and ranges from vector-borne diseases to environmental and gastrointestinal microbiology.
Our research includes laboratory and field-based experimental, statistical and computational analysis of aspects of the biology, diagnosis, epidemiology and control of organisms that cause and transmit tropical diseases, including leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, malaria, river blindness, influenza and dengue.
We also have research programs in the ecology, pathogenicity, immune response and distribution of environmental bacterial pathogens and other gastro-intestinal and environmental microbes.
Our research
Accordion
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Tropical infectious diseases
- Leishmaniasis
- African trypanosomiasis
- South American trypanosomiasis
- Dengue
- Malaria
- Filariasis
- River Blindness
- Leptospirosis
- Bioinformatics of infectious diseases
- Influenza viruses
- Dengue fever
- Host-parasite relationships in leishmaniasis
- New species of Leishmania
- Leishmaniasis in Brazil, Ghana, Thailand and diagnosis
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Insect vectors of tropical diseases
- sand flies and mosquitoes
- functional genomics of insect vectors
- insect microbiology vector control
- vector sampling
- vector population dynamics
- risk analysis
- innate immunity and immune evasion
-
Environmental and gastro-intestinal microbiology
- Role of non-tubercular mycobacteria in human disease
- Pathogen ecology and evolution
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Intestinal bacterial fauna
- DNA repair in Giardia
- Human gut microbiota
- Archaeal models for studying DNA processes and antibiotic resistance in bacteria
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Statistical, computational and spatial analysis
- predict the geographic and ecological distribution of vectors and/or pathogens.
These include:- loiasis
- leptospirosis
- malaria
- meningitis
- dengue
- trypanosomiasis
- livestock diseases (Bluetongue, Schmallenberg, Foot and Mouth disease and avian influenza)
- Inference and mapping of disease transmission
- predict the geographic and ecological distribution of vectors and/or pathogens.
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Research successes
Notable research successes include:
- (Bates)
- (Dillon)
- (Hamilton)
- (Hamilton)
- (Jackson-Jones)
- (Jackson-Jones)
- (Munir)
- (Pickup)
- (Pickup)
- (Sedda)
- (Urbaniak)
- (Urbaniak)
- (Urbaniak)
- (Worthington)
- (Worthington)
Microbes, Pathogens and Immunity
Research developing understanding of the cellular & molecular biology of microbes, pathogens & the immune system.
Microbes, Pathogens & ImmunityPeople
: DNA repair in Giardia, trypanosomes and Trichomonas
: Host-parasite relationships in leishmaniasis; new species of Leishmania; leishmaniasis in Ghana and Thailand
: Host-bacterial interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans; Leishmania chemotaxis in microchips
: Molecular and cellular biology of DNA repair in the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei
: statistical modelling of spatial and temporal variation in disease risk, including loiasis in Africa, leptospirosis in Brazil, malaria in Malawi and meningitis epidemic forecasting in sub-Saharan Africa
: Bioinformatics of infectious diseases and Systems Biology
: Chemical ecology of insect vectors; vector control; synthetic chemistry
Dr Lucy Jackson-Jones:Immunological response to infection & inflammation
Professor Paul McKean: Molecular and cellular biology of the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei
: Host-virus interactions in diverse avian and mammalian species, zoonotic viruses
Professor Jackie Parry: Interkingdom signalling between bacteria and Protists and the evolution of the endocannabinoid system
: Role of non-tubercular mycobacteria in human disease; pathogen ecology and antimicrobial resistance
: Human gut microbiota; cytokines; immunology; cancer biology; microbiome; metabolome
: Electrophysiology; ion channels; cell biology; fungi and plants
: Archaeal models for studying DNA replication, repair, ubiquitin-like modifications and protein homeostasis
Dr Federico Rojas Martinez: Protein modification and quorum sensing in Trypanosomes
: Vector population dynamics for disease distribution, spread and dynamics
: Signalling pathways in Trypanosoma brucei and related parasites, cell cycle regulation, host ¨C parasite relationships in African trypanosomes, proteomics
: Innate immunity; DNA viruses; Leishmania immune evasion; DNA damage
: Gut immunity; epithelial enteroendocrine cells; helminth infections and inflammatory bowel disease
: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of the cannabinoid system, 2D and 3D modelling