School of Life Sciences
 

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Ruth Griffin

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Contact

  • workRoom B14 The University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute (BDI1)
    University Park
    Nottingham
    NG7 2RD
    UK
  • work0115 74 86120

Biography

I undertook a degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter specialising in Molecular Biology then went to the University of Oxford to undertake a DPhil investigating lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae as a vaccine candidate in Richard Moxon's laboratory. During my post-doc positions at the National Institute for Medical Research followed by Imperial College working in Douglas Young's group, I investigated lipoarabinomannan as a novel TB vaccine candidate. As CoI on an NIH grant, I continued my research on TB at the affiliated TB group at the Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Surrey. After a career break, I decided to return to meningitidis-causing bacteria, and as PI at my local University, Kingston, I conducted research on the lipoprotein antigen, Factor H binding protein of Neisseria meningitidis. I was then given a Lecturership contract for 2 years and qualified as FHEA. In 2017 I was appointed as Assistant Professor to work in the Synthetic Biology Research Centre headed by Professor Minton, in the School of Life Sciences. My group is developing novel mucosal vaccine delivery systems funded by the School, BBSRC, MRC, MICRA and professional societies.

Expertise Summary

I have supervised 5 PhD students to completion who have moved on to post-doc positions or industry and one of whom has been a PDRA in my group for the past year or so. I have mentored and trained another PDRA for 18 months who was recently appointed as a full-time Lecturer. I currently have 4 PhD students and 3 MSc students. My group is developing novel mucosal vaccine platforms and we are validating their efficacy against Clostridioides difficile. We plan to roll out our technologies to target ETEC and Salmonella next. Our platforms include liposomes and outer membrane vesicles, recombinant antigens with M cell targeting peptides and engineered probiotic and commensal spore formers.

I review grants for the BBSRC, MRC and EPSRC and manuscripts for Microorganisms, Vaccines and Frontiers in Microbiology.

Teaching Summary

I convene a third year module, Pathogens (LIFE3035) and undertake the teaching on Vaccinology for this module and organise the oral presentations assessment. I deliver other lectures in Medical… read more

Research Summary

My area of research is in developing novel mucosal vaccine platforms which we are initially validating against Clostridioides difficile. C. diff is an urgent global health threat. Being a gut… read more

School of Life Sciences

University of Nottingham
Medical School
Queen's Medical Centre
Nottingham NG7 2UH

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