Programme research themes

PhD projects will be developed during the first year in consultation with the selected supervisors chosen from research themes that include:

Targeting the Gram-negative bacterial cell envelope
Unconventional approaches to eradicating bacterial pathogens
Smart materials
Surface and secreted antigens, host interactions and vaccines
Genomic epidemiology, bacterial evolution and antibiotic resistance

Potential supervisors - The University of Nottingham

Name and title	Research Interests
Alexander, Cameron Professor in School of Pharmacy	Therapeutic polymers, Materials for Quorum Sensing detection and inactivation, Disruption of bacterial pathways for anti-microbial polymer/materials synthesis
Alexander, Morgan Professor in School of Pharmacy	Developing novel biomaterials to reduce medical device centred infections
Atherton, John Clin Professor in School of Medicine	Eradication of Helicobacter pylori infections
Atkinson, Steve Lecturer in School of Life Sciences	Yersinia, quorum sensing , quorum quenching and pathogenicity
Barrow, Paul Professor in School of Veterinary Medicine	Use of bacteriophages to control AMR infections and deliver CRISPR-Cas to neutralise AMR gene expression
Bayston, Roger Professor in School of Veterinary Medicine and Science	Biofilms, antimicrobials and implanted medical devices
Bolt, Ed Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	New antibiotic targets in bacterial CRISPR-Cas and DNA replication: genetic and biochemical screens using small chemical libraries
Bonev, Boyan Lecturer in School of Life Sciences	Biophysical, structural and computational approaches to investigate the structure and assembly of the bacterial membranes and cell envelope
Cámara, Miguel Professor in School of Life Sciences	Targeting quorum sensing and virulence as an alternative antimicrobial strategy
Chalmers, Ronald Professor in School of Life Sciences	Molecular mechanisms and biological consequences of DNA transposition
Chan, Weng Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Discovery and development of lipophilic macrocycle antibiotics as anti-virulent and anti-bacterial agents
Delahay, Robert Lecturer in School of Medicine	Targeting the mechanisms of acquisition, stability and virulence function of mobile genetic elements harbouring bacterial virulence and resistance determinants
Dreveny, Ingrid Assistant Professor in School of Pharmacy	Determining function and cellular events through macromolecular structure
Dubern, Jean Research Fellow in School of Life Sciences	Quorum sensing
Emsley, Jonas Professor in School of Pharmacy	Protein crystallographic investigations of the structure of antimicrobial inhibitor-protein target complexes
Falcone, Franco Associate Professor of Pharmacy	Mechanisms of H pylori adhesion to gastric epithelium
Fischer, Peter Professor in School of Pharmacy	Discovery and medicinal chemistry of small-molecule anti-bacterial agents relevant to AMR
Gershkovic, Pavel Lecturer in School of Pharmacy	Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of antimicrobial agents. Targeted delivery of antimicrobials to increase treatment efficiency and to overcome resistance
Gomes, Rachel Associate Professor in Faculty of Engineering	Adaptive bioprocessing towards water engineering and manufacture within the chemical context
Goodacre, Sara Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Evolutionary, population and conservation genetic studies
Hannan, Nick Assistant Professor in School of Medicine	Mechanisms of endoderm development and disease
Hardie, Kim Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Identification and characterization of antimicrobial strategies that target the production and function of extracellular virulence factors
Heeb, Stephan Lecturer in School of Life Sciences	Reducing antibiotic multidrug tolerance (persistence) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Hill, Phil Associate Professor in School of Biosciences	Reporter and imaging systems for antimicrobial screening and efficacy evaluation
Hirst, Jonathan Professor in School of Chemistry	Application of computational chemistry to the study of the structure, dynamics and spectroscopy of biological molecules
Hobman, Jon Associate Professor in School of Biosciences	The co-selection problem: antibiotic and antimicrobial metal resistance down on the farm
Hook, Andrew Senior Research Fellow in School of Pharmacy	Exploring biological-surface interactions
Huett, Alan Assistant Professor in School of Life Sciences	Novel bacterial effectors, host-pathogen interactions, and disrupting host cell manipulation as an anti-virulence strategy
Kellam, Barrie Professor in School of Pharmacy	Discovery and medicinal chemistry of small-molecule anti-biofilm agents as potential new antimicrobials
King, John Professor in School of Maths	Evolution and systems biology of drug resistance to antibiotic-drug combinations
Knox, Alan Professor in School of Medicine	Host-bacterial interactions in the lung
Lee, Christina Associate Professor in School of English	Disease and disability in early medieval England
Mahida, Yash Professor in School of Medicine	Exploiting the healthy human microflora as an antimicrobial tool to combat bacterial infections
Martinez-Pomares, Luisa Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Harnessing the antimicrobial activity of innate immune cells through immunotherapy
Minton, Nigel Professor in School of Life Sciences	The development of more effective countermeasures against clostridial pathogens, primarily Clostridium difficile
Monaghan, Tanya Anne Mclaren Fellow in School of Medicine	Gastroenterology and digestive diseases
Moody, Chris Professor in School of Chemistry	Design, synthesis and evaluation of novel antibacterial agents based on natural products
Moses, John Associate Professor in School of Chemistry	Chemical Biology of Antibiotics/Click Chemistry
Oldham, Neil Professor in School of Chemistry	Applying mass spectrometry in solving biological problems
Penfold, Chris Lecturer in School of Life Sciences	Characterisation of novel bacteriocins with potent antimicrobial activity
Robinson, Karen Associate Professor in School of Medicine	Eradication of Helicobacter pylori infections
Searle, Mark Professor in School of Chemistry	Structural biology (NMR at highfield); biophysics; ligand-receptor interactions
Sockett, Liz Professor in School of Life Sciences	Predatory bacteria-pathogen interactions
Soultanos, Panos Professor in School of Chemistry	Antimicrobials against DNA replication and bacterial attachment; novel antimicrorbial peptides
Stekel, Dov Associate Professor in School of Biosciences	Mathematical models for antimicrobial resistance: from molecules to populations
Stocks, Michael Associate Professor in School of Pharmacy	Antibacterial drug discovery - design, synthesis and medicinal chemistry optimisation including lung and oral delivery
Stolnik-Trenkic, Snow Associate Professor in School of Pharmacy	Physicochemical characterisation and biological properties of drug delivery systems
Thomas, Neil Professor in School of Chemistry	Design, synthesis and evaluation of anti-bacterial biologics, small organics and virus-like particle vaccines
Williams, Paul Professor in School of Life Sciences	Quorum sensing systems as antimicrobial targets; bacterial surface sensing and biofilms
Winzer, Klaus Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Targeting energy metabolism in bacterial pathogens; exploiting bacterial metabolism for in vivo synthesis of antimicrobial agents
Wooldridge, Karl Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences	Modulation of bacterial adhesin/host cell receptor interactions
Zhu, Zheying Associate Professor in School of Pharmacy	Molecular pharmacology combined with drug delivery of natural products derived from Chinese Traditional Medicine

Potential supervisors - University of Birmingham

Name and title	Research Interests
Alderwick, Luke Director, Drug Discovery Unit School of Biosciences	Mycobacterial cell wall and drug discovery
Ballou, Elizabeth BBSRC Anniversary Future Leader Fellow, Lecturer in Cellular Microbiology School of Biosciences	Cell biologist and genetics
Besra, Gurdyal Bardrick Professor of Microbial Physiology and Chemistry School of Biosciences	Mycobacterial cell wall and mechanisms of action of anti-tuberculosis antibiotics
Bevan, Edward Clinical Lecturer (AAMR)	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
Bhatt, Apoorva Senior Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology School of Biosciences	Mycobacterial Cell wall
Blair, Jessica BBSRC David Phillips Fellow	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
Buckner, Michelle Research Fellow (AXA Research Fund)	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
Brucker, Robert Lecturer in Microbial Genomics School of Biosciences	Microbial genomics
Busby, Steve Professor of Biochemistry School of Biosciences	Bacterial transcription and genome organisation
Butterworth, Sam Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry School of Pharmacy	Synthetic and biological chemistry
Cox, Liam Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry School of Chemistry	Organic synthesis
Cunningham, Adam Professor of Functional Immunity College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Vaccine development and Immune responses to bacterial antigens
Dafforn, Tim Professor of Biotechnology School of Biosciences	Bacterial cell division and biophysics
Fernandez-Trillo, Fernandez John Evans Fellow in Nanotechnology School of Chemistry	Development of novel polymeric antimicrobial materials
Futterer, Klaus Reader in Structural Biology School of Biosciences	Structural biology of bacterial cell envelope components
Grainger, Dave Reader in Molecular Microbiology School of Biosciences	Chromatin organisation and bacterial transcription
Grinter, Rhys Wellcome Research Fellow College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Structural biology of transport complexes
Hall, Rebecca MRC CDA Fellow School of Biosciences	Fungal host-pathogen interactions
Hardy, Katie Lecturer (AAMR) College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
Hawkey, Peter Professor of Public Health and Clinical Bacteriology College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and transfer of resistance
Henderson, Ian Professor of Microbial Biology College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Understanding the Bacterial cell envelope and its interaction with the host
Huber, Damon Birmingham Fellow School of Biosciences	Protein translocation across the inner membrane translocation
Hyde, Eva Senior lecturer School of Biosciences	NMR structural biology of bacterial plasmid partitioning systems
Jabbari, Sara Birmingham Fellow School of Mathematics	Modelling of gene regulation networks using both numerical and analytical approaches
Knowles, Tim Research Fellow School of Biosciences	NMR Structural Biology of bacterial antigens
Kreft, Jan-Ulrich Lecturer in Computational Biology School of Biosciences	Modelling of biofilms
Dr Sarah Kuehne Lecturer in Oral Microbiology College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Oral microbiology
McNally, Alan Senior Lecturer in Microbial Genomics College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Microbial genomics
Loman, Nick Independent Research Fellow	Bacterial genomics
Lovering, Andy Senior Lecturer School of Biosciences	Structural biology of bacterial proteins
Lund, Peter Reader in Molecular Microbiology School of Biosciences	Acid resistance and chaperones
Macaskie, Lynne Professor of Applied Microbiology School of Biosciences	Bioremediation
May, Robin Lister Fellow & Professor of Infectious Disease School of Biosciences	Fungal host-pathogen interactions
Mitchell, Andrea College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Vaccine development and Host-pathogen interactions
Mitchell, Tim Professor of Microbial Infection and Immunity College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Vaccine development and Host-pathogen interactions
Moynihan, Patrick BBSRC Research Fellow School of Biosciences	Peptidoglycan biosynthesis in mycobacterium tuberculosis
O’Shea, Matt Clinical Lecturer College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Vaccine development and Immune responses to bacterial antigens
Piddock, Laura Professor of Microbiology College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial discovery
Rossiter, Amanda Wellcome Research Fellow	Bacterial host-pathogen interactions
Simpkins, Nigel Professor of Chemistry School of Chemistry	Organic synthesis
Thomas, Chris Professor of Molecular Genetics School of Biosciences	Plasmid biology and synthetic biology of antimicrobial production
Tucker, Jim Professor of Supramolecular Chemistry School of Chemistry	Supramolecular systems and functional DNA-based assemblies
Voelz, Kerstin Lecturer in Eukaryotic Microbiology School of Biosciences	Fungal host-pathogen interactions
Webber, Mark Senior Research Fellow College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Antibiotic and Biocide resistance
Winn, Peter Lecturer School of Biosciences	Molecular modelling of biomolecules
Schaik, Willem van Professor in Microbiology and Infection College of Medical and Dental Sciences	Microbial genomics

Programme research themes

Potential supervisors - The University of Nottingham

Potential supervisors - University of Birmingham

School of Life Sciences

Legal information

Get social