Easing the global burden of C. diff infection 

My research focuses on how the immune system and microbiome (microbes within the intestine) react to infection, to detect new ways of fighting the bug. Antimicrobial resistance is a global challenge, accelerated by the overuse of antibiotics in response to C. diff (Clostridioides difficile), which is the leading worldwide infective cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. Antibiotics can damage the defences normally provided by the millions of bacteria in our guts to C. difficile and other infections.  

My Anne McLaren Fellowship allowed me to travel to Central India to study for the first time the burden of C. difficile infection in highly divergent urban and rural hunter-gatherer populations. My research is helping to inform regional and national prevention and control policies in India.

Globally, through the generation of high-dimensional molecular data sets, my team and I hope to advance our understanding of C. difficile pathogenesis, and, in so doing, inform more effective treatments and strategies. 

Why Nottingham?

The university enjoys an excellent national and international reputation in academic gastroenterology. I work in in the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, part of the National Institute for Health Research  Biomedical Research Centre in Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases. 

There are many advantages to being based here, including excellent opportunities to carry out transdisciplinary research, working in cutting-edge laboratory facilities with internationally renowned experts and fantastic support for early career researchers, particularly in relation to accessing funding opportunities, advising/supporting grant applications and in career advice. 

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