Research within the Microbiology, Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity is focused on the role of microbes in health and disease. This covers some of the most serious issues facing society, such as the rapid rise of antimicrobial resistance and the emergence of microbes with epidemic and pandemic potential. Our researchers seek to understand the fundamental biology of microbes, from physiology to evolution to their interactions with their environments, and apply our findings to generate real world solutions to these problems. We study the host immune response to microbes, particularly the biology of inflammation, as this helps us to understand the complex interplay between host and microbe better. More specifically, our researchers have dynamic research programmes covering:
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Bacterial and fungal pathogenesis and virulence factors
- Pharmaceutical strategies to treat infections
- Immune evasion and host responses
- Vaccine development
- Host behaviour and disease transmission
- Molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genomics
- Microbial stress responses and signal transduction
- Non-coding RNAs and fine-tuning of bacterial physiology
- Microbial ecology
- Biogeography of pathogenic fungi
- Bacterial biofilms and microbiomes.
- Bacteriophage
- Molecular genetic basis of helminth parasitism
Utilising a wide range of systems and techniques that combine laboratory and computational/bioinformatics approaches, our extensive network of funders and collaborators span the globe and includes traditional research councils, charities, government agencies and industry.