Institute: Imperial College London
Biography
My research focus is the potential mechanisms by which serious Gram positive pathogens cause disease, using the group A streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes) as a paradigm.
S. pyogenes causes a spectrum of disease ranging from pharyngitis to invasive infections such as necrotising fasciitis, peripartum sepsis and toxic shock. In the developing world, S. pyogenes infections are associated with development of rheumatic fever, a major cause of valvular heart disease, and glomerulonephritis.
Our research examines the interface between pathogen molecular microbiology and host immune response, and is informed by extreme phenotypes of infection, and epidemiological trends in disease over time, leading to recognition of the importance of recombination-related genome remodelling in disease frequency, and the impacts that changes in human behaviour might have.
One focus is the role of bacterial superantigens in streptococcal disease, for example, the classical phage-encoded scarlet fever toxins, SPEA and SPEC, as well as the staphylococcal superantigens that can trigger both menstrual and non-menstrual toxic shock.
Key Publications
A list of publications can be found here.
Web Links of Interest