Even healthy humans constantly interact with a vast diversity of bacterial species, which can normally be found growing over the skin, inside the nose, and throughout the gut. However, bacterial diseases are responsible for the loss of millions of lives every year, and the rising threat of antibiotic resistance means many such infections are becoming more difficult to treat. Our research encompasses pathogenic bacteria that spread through the air or direct contact (e.g. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus), through contaminated food or water (e.g. Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica), or through sexual transmission (e.g. Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae). The differences in these bacteria’s lifestyles, and the types of disease they cause, pose varied challenges to understanding how to best prevent them causing infections.
Research within the MRC Centre ranges from laboratory-based molecular microbiology for understanding the evolution of bacteria and microbiome biology, to large-scale analysis of genomic data for epidemiological analysis and outbreak identification, and mathematical modelling of antibiotic resistance and vaccine introductions. Much bacterial pathogen research is focussed within the Bacterial Evolutionary Epidemiology group, with other aspects integrated with the broader pathogen research themes across the MRC Centre.
People
Professor Nicholas Grassly
Professor Nicholas Grassly
Professor of Infectious Disease & Vaccine Epidemiology
Professor Sir Roy Anderson
Professor Sir Roy Anderson
Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Professor Samir Bhatt
Professor Samir Bhatt
Professor of Statistics and Public Health
Dr Leonid Chindelevitch
Dr Leonid Chindelevitch
Lecturer in Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Dr Nicholas Croucher
Dr Nicholas Croucher
Senior Lecturer in Bacterial Genomics
Professor Caroline Trotter
Professor Caroline Trotter
Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Prof Peter White
Prof Peter White
Professor in Public Health Modelling
Contact us
For any enquiries related to the MRC Centre please contact:
Scientific Manager
Susannah Fisher
mrc.gida@imperial.ac.uk
External Relationships and Communications Manager
Dr Sabine van Elsland
s.van-elsland@imperial.ac.uk