The Scientific Seminar Series is designed to reach the microbiology community to disseminate knowledge across its professional networks. The events are designed as a regularly repeated series of short (typically 1–2 hour) online meetings.
The Journal of Medical Microbiology (JMM) monthly seminar series is designed to showcase high-quality and timely research from the journal’s key authors. JMM welcomes everything from laboratory research to clinical trials, including bacteriology, virology, mycology, and parasitology. The JMM seminars will reflect this same comprehensive scientific content.
Sign up to attend this series of seminars via the 'Registration' tab. Instructions on how to join the Zoom session will be sent ahead of each seminar.
Please note all times listed on the programme are in BST (UK time).
Sign up to attend this series of seminars below. You will receive an email with information about each upcoming presentation, including joining instructions, a Zoom link, and any other relevant information, two days before each seminar. A second reminder email will be sent one hour before each seminar. Unfortunately, if you have signed up less than one hour before the seminar you will not be able to attend until the next seminar in the series.
Please note all times listed on the programme are in GMT (UK time).
All seminars will be run via Zoom, a link for which will be sent to you via email prior to the meeting. Please ensure you have updated to the latest version of the Zoom desktop or mobile application (version 5.3 or higher is recommended).
Robert Hirt is Professor of Evolutionary Parasitology at Newcastle University (UK). He pursued Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Zoology at the University of Lausanne (UNIL, 1987). His PhD in molecular and cellular biology (UNIL, 1992) focused on polarised membrane trafficking in mammalian epithelial cells, examining the role of phosphorylation in the transcytosis of the mammalian polymeric immunoglobulin receptor, and its ligand, dimeric IgAs, critical components of the mucosal immune system. Captivated by evolutionary biology, he embarked on a NERC-funded postdoctoral project at the Natural History Museum London (1992-1996) on ciliate molecular evolution. His passion for molecular and cellular evolution led to two Wellcome Trust grants, a "Career Development Fellowship" (1996-2000) followed by a "University Award" (2000-2005), which allowed him to investigate the molecular evolution of the Trichomonads and Microsporidia, two important and common groups of parasites. In 2004, Robert joined Newcastle University, actively engaging in research and teaching at the Biosciences Institute and the School of Biomedical Sciences. His research on Trichomonads and Microsporidia aims to gain new insights into (i) the molecular and cellular basis of their pathogenicity, including zoonotic potential, and (ii) identify genetic traits shared across important mucosal pathogens and mutualists mediating microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions underlying important factors modulating health and disease status of their human and animal hosts.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lucy Thorne is unable to give her talk on 25 October 2024. The talk will be rescheduled at a later date.
Lucy Thorne is a new group leader and lecturer at Imperial College London. Her research is focussed on understanding how emerging viruses overcome our frontline defence against new viruses, the innate immune system, and how pandemic viruses do this so effectively. For the past 10 years, she has run public engagement programmes in infectious disease in the UK and Sierra Leone.
Prof Kendra Rumbaugh, Ph.D. is a Full Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Director of the Burn Center of Research Excellence at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She received her PhD in Medical Microbiology from TTUHSC and performed postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco, both in the area of bacterial pathogenesis. Dr. Rumbaugh’s translational research focuses on understanding and treating wound infections, and she is especially interested in how biofilms, polymicrobial interactions and cell-to-cell signalling contribute to infection. She is an honorary fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology. She joined the Journal of Medical Microbiology editorial board in 2022.
Email: [email protected]
Lysangela Alves has a degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Paraná (2004), a master's degree in sciences (Biochemistry) from the Federal University of Paraná (2006) and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (2010). Since 2012, she has been a public health researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, at the Carlos Chagas Institute (ICC), a technical-scientific unit of Fiocruz in Paraná. Lysangela’s main area of research is Molecular Microbiology, addressing the transport of RNA molecules in extracellular vesicles and their role in pathogenesis and modulation of host gene expression during infection, using fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida auris as models.
Dr. You-Hee Cho is a Full Professor at CHA University College of Pharmacy. He got his PhD in February 1999 at Seoul National University and started his tenure-track professor position in March 2002 at Sogang University after his postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has served for Korean scientific societies and funding agencies and received several awards: KMB Excellent Young Scientist Award (2009), MSK Senior Researcher Award (2019), JM Excellent Article Award (2020), and Minister’s Commendation (2021). Dr. Cho has been focusing on platform technology R&D for next-generation antibiotics and pharmabiotics, which are mostly based on synthetic biology of bacteriophage (phage) lifecycles and materials. A major strength of his research is to exploit a small-scale animal model using Drosophila melanogaster for infection and colonization caused by pathogenic or pharmabiotic bacteria. His group is very much interested in phage-bacteria and bacteria-bacteria interactions to uncover the previously unidentified molecular determinants in those interactions, which could be harnessed for new antibiotic and pharmabiotic discovery.
Professor Kalai Mathee, MSc, PhD, MPH, renowned at Florida International University (FIU), is celebrated for her contributions to microbiology and influential role in academia. As the first FIU faculty inducted into the American Academy of Microbiology, Mathee, a Malaysian native, has achieved notable milestones. Her academic journey spans from the University of Malaya to a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Tennessee, Memphis, and a Master's in Public Health from FIU. Mathee's career features several pioneering roles, including being the inaugural chair at FIU's College of Medicine and the first international editor of the Journal of Medical Microbiology. She became the first international Trustee and Council member of The Microbiology Society in January 2024. Her mentorship has impacted over 190 individuals, ranging from professors to middle-school students, contributing to over 170 publications and five patents. Recognitions for her mentorship include the Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentorship (2011) and the New England Biolabs Passion in Science Award (2014). Mathee has delivered over 150 lectures worldwide and engages actively in FIU's School of International and Public Affairs. She has been instrumental in establishing significant programs like the Global Health Conference and Consortium and has significantly contributed to the MLK forum. Mathee's global commitment to education and science is notable.
She was honored with the 2022 Microbiology Society Outreach Prize and has received prestigious awards, including the 2011 President's Council Worlds Ahead Faculty Award and the 2021 FIU Faculty Senate Service Award. Mathee's career epitomizes her dedication to the community within FIU and in the broader realms of microbiology and Tamilar studies. Her resilience, optimism, and perseverance underscore her transformative impact in academia and beyond.
Dr. James is the Head of Influenza and Newcastle Disease Research at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and leads a series of teams in diverse research activities. He is also the Deputy Director of the WOAH/FAO International Reference Laboratory for Animal Influenza and Newcastle Disease and UK Disease Consultant for the avian influenza virus. As well as the frontline diagnosis of notifiable avian and mammalian influenza viruses and Newcastle disease, the workgroup is supported by active research programmes across a broad range of research areas.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joe-james-virologist
Dr. Jason Rosch received his bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster followed by a PhD in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Washington University. He is currently an Associate Member in the Department of Host-Microbe Interactions at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His research focuses on virulence mechanisms of pathogenic streptococci and antibiotic resistance. Work in his lab encompasses how virulence strategies and the development of antibiotic resistance differs in high-risk patient populations through both translational projects in collaboration with clinicians as well as basic research into fundamental biological processes. These studies have revealed of number of important insights in a variety of areas including viral-bacterial co-infections, recalcitrant bacterial infections in immune-compromised pediatric patients, and mechanistic dissection and targeted therapies to mitigate respiratory complications of sickle cell disease. He has published over eighty publications in the field of host-pathogen interactions and has been continuously supported by several NIH grants.
Dr Andrew Broadbent is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland in the USA. Dr Broadbent graduated with a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Cambridge in the UK, and a PhD in Microbiology & Immunology from Imperial College London. He then undertook postdoctoral research in Virology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA, before returning to the UK to establish his own laboratory specialising in avian viruses at The Pirbright Institute. He moved back across the Pond to continue to grow his research team in 2021, where his lab currently focuses on infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), avian reovirus (ARV), and avian influenza virus (AIV). He is currently an Editor for the Journal of Medical Microbiology
Professor Jose L. Puente is from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and Editor for the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
He gave his talk in the February 2023 JMM Seminar Series about how virulence gene regulates attaching and effacing of bacteria, acting as a unique toolbox.
Dr. Stephen Michell is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology at the University of Exeter. After graduating from Imperial College London, he undertook his Ph.D. at St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College, and the Animal Plant Health Agency Weybridge, researching lipoproteins of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Dr. Michell then moved to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories Porton Down, where his research included novel vaccines for Francisella tularensis and studying the resistance mechanisms to ricin. He then returned to academia, joining the University of Exeter, where he continued to explore human bacterial pathogens, including Clostridioides difficile and Vibrio vulnificus, focusing on secreted and cell wall proteins.
Roberto graduated in 1995 and then went on to study for a post graduate degree in veterinary microbiology at the RVC. In 1996 he moved to the government Veterinary Laboratories Agency to undertake a PhD on the pathogenesis of E. coli in poultry. In 2005 Roberto was appointed head of pathogenesis and control at the APHA and in 2010 he was appointed Professor of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology at the University of Surrey.
Roberto gained the FRCPath in 2010 and in 2012 was appointed the Associate Dean for Veterinary Strategy in the School of Veterinary Medicine. In 2014 he was appointed Head of the Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases and 2019 Deputy Head of School. In 2021 he was appointed Head of the School of Biosciences and Medicine. Roberto is the Chair of the Royal College of Pathologists Veterinary Pathology Specialty Advisory Committee, Chair of the Humanimal Trust, a Trustee of the Houghton Trust, a member of the APHA Science Advisory Board, and the past president of the Med-Vet-Net Association and the Veterinary Research Club. Roberto is an Associate member of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology (AECVM). In 2020 he was awarded Honorary Associateship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (HonAssocRCVS).
Roberto’s current research interests focus on AMR and understanding the pathogenesis of zoonotic bacterial pathogens. Roberto has a particular interest in the development of control and intervention strategies, including rapid diagnostics, vaccines, and probiotics for the control of pathogens such as Salmonella, Brachyspira and E. coli in food producing animals. Roberto has published over 190 peer reviewed papers in the area of microbiology.
Kim Hardie is Professor in Bacterial Pathogenesis within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK, and co-leads the Division of Infection, Immunity and Microbes. She is also co-investigator in the National Biofilm Innovation Centre and co-Director for the Wellcome Trust Doctoral Training Programme on Antimicrobials and Antimicrobial Resistance that is held jointly with the University of Birmingham. Kim studied at the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge, UK, before undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of Victoria, Canada, and Institut Pasteur, France. She joined the JMM Editorial board in 2011 and is currently senior editor for the Pathogenicity, Virulence and Host Response section. Her research group studies how proteins are secreted and how bacteria regulate these proteins. The work specifically aims to understand the fitness burden of producing signalling molecules that are used by bacteria to communicate with each other, and how this impacts on pathogenicity. To do this, Kim’s research group have been investigating how bacteria form coordinated communities on surfaces (biofilms) including skin. State-of-the-art multidisciplinary approaches are combined with realistic infection models to investigate how antimicrobials penetrate complex biofilm structures. Her aim is to discover novel antimicrobials, or more effective combination therapies.
Kim communicates science as broadly as possible. Her portfolio of outreach activities includes the Royal Society Summer exhibition (2019, 2020), media interviews (TV and radio), science festivals, Wonder, bespoke school/NHS outreach, and learned society governance roles (Royal Society of Biology and Microbiology Society).
Rikke Meyer has an MSc and PhD in microbiology and is an Associate Professor at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is leading an interdisciplinary research group that combines microbiology and nanotechnology to understand how bacteria adhere to surfaces and form biofilms, and how biofilms can be prevented or treated through innovations in nanoscience, chemistry and biotechnology.
For example, her research has shown that bacteria use extracellular DNA to adhere to surfaces with a wide range of properties. DNA is a key component of the biofilm matrix in biofilms from freshwater to industrial systems and for clinically relevant pathogens. Her work on host-pathogen interactions by Staphylococcus epidermidis has provided a new understanding of how biomaterials can facilitate bacterial attachment by steering the conformation of host proteins that adsorb to the material surface.
She has collaborated with many research groups and private companies to develop antifouling or antimicrobial solutions through nanoscale coatings, enzymes, nanoparticles and nanoformulation of antibiotics. Fundamental and applied research projects go hand in hand in her laboratory, ensuring a short path from research to innovation.
Dr Salvador Almagro-Moreno received his BS in Biology from the University of Granada and PhD in Microbiology from the National University of Ireland. Subsequently, he moved to the United States as the E. E. Just Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College, USA. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, USA.
The Moreno Lab focuses on the emergence and evolution of bacterial pathogens. Their primary research interests include elucidating the molecular strategies that bacterial pathogens develop for host colonisation, virulence regulation and dispersal from the host. Furthermore, they are interested in connecting ecosystems with manmade environmental perturbations (e.g. climate change, pollution) to determine their pathogenic potential and transmission. His research program focuses on several pathogenic members of the Vibrionaceae, a family of aquatic bacteria, as model systems. In addition, investigations emphasize the intestinal pathogen Vibrio cholerae, which represents a paradigm of infectious disease agents, and Vibrio vulnificus, a poorly understood emergent zoonotic pathogen, source of fulminant septicemia. His research approach strives to be holistic and multidisciplinary; what we call “From Bays to Bases.” It encompasses molecular biology, genomics, ecology, and pathogenesis. He believes that by understanding pathogen evolution and ecology, to ultimately gain the knowledge that will allow forecasting the traits of emergent virulent strains, predict the sources of outbreaks, and designing reliable treatments against bacterial threats.
Research in the Moreno Lab has been funded by the US National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the Binational Science Foundation. Dr Almagro-Moreno has received numerous awards and honors, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Scialog Fellowship on Mitigating Zoonotic Threats. He recently became one of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.
To learn more about the Moreno Lab, please visit www.vibriocholerae.org.
Dr. Arnoud van Vliet is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Surrey, UK. He received his Ph.D. in infectious diseases from the University of Utrecht in 1995 and has led research groups at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK. His research focuses on zoonotic bacterial pathogens such as Campylobacter, Listeria, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella. While he trained as an experimental scientist, he moved into the area of genomics/bioinformatics, intending to use genome sequencing and analysis technologies to understand better bacterial virulence, biology, epidemiology, and antimicrobial resistance. One of his goals is to make bioinformatics/genomics more accessible and user-friendly to novice users. He is currently Senior Editor of the Molecular and Microbial Epidemiology section of JMM and has been an editor of microbiology journals since 2003.
Dr. Leal has a broad background in microbiology, immunology, molecular biology and medicine with residency training in pathology and subspecialty fellowship training in medical microbiology. He received his MD/PhD training in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Case Western Reserve University, pathology residency training at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Microbiology fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic. He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Clinical Pathology and Medical Microbiology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology. He has a special clinical and research interest in medical mycology and has been at the forefront of COVID-19 diagnostic response and the study of COVID-Associated 2° mold infections.
Norman is a Consultant Clinical Scientist and Laboratory Surveillance Lead for Vaccine Preventable Bacteria at the UK’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Colindale, London, UK. The UKHSA brings together the health protection functions of Public Health England and National Health Service Test and Trace, including the Joint Biosecurity Centre. Norman is also Head of the Vaccine Preventable Bacteria Section which includes the National Reference Laboratories for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Bordetella pertussis and diphtheria. His laboratory also hosts the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae (Co-Heads: Norman Fry & David Litt) and the WHO CC for Diphtheria and Streptococcal infections (Head, Prof Androulla Efstratiou). Norman is also Co-Editor-in-Chief (with Prof Kalai Mathee) for one of the Microbiology Society journals, the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
Norman completed a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology and Virology from the University of Warwick in 1984, and was awarded a PhD on Legionella in 1992 whilst at Colindale. From 1992-1995 he moved to the USA to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship exploring microbial populations in the deep subsurface at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, with field trips to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington State to filter many litres of groundwater. He returned to Colindale, public health microbiology and Legionella in 1996, then moved into working on the bacteria causing vaccine preventable diseases.
Tim Inglis is a UK-trained medical microbiologist, who migrated via Singapore to Australia, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Medical Microbiology. His work on emerging infectious diseases in Western Australia has emphasised capability building in regional, rural and remote locations where pathology support is lacking. Currently, much of his time is taken up on COVID laboratory activities, and if it weren’t for the pandemic, he would be working flat out on new methods for rapid diagnosis of systemic, drug-resistant infections in regional Australia. In his spare time, he enjoys trail running and looking after a smallholding.
Dr Lynn Silver received her PhD in Molecular and Microbiology at Tufts University in 1975 and did postdoctoral work at the University of Geneva and NIH. In 1982, she joined Merck Research Laboratories, where she conducted research and supervised groups in discovery efforts for new antibacterials in both natural products and chemical collections. She oversaw various programs involving inhibitors of DNA and cell wall synthesis, participated in the discovery of the first published inhibitors of LpxC and the novel antibiotic platensimycin (FabF inhibitor). Her group also supported many chemistry efforts toward improving classic antibiotics, such as macrolides, glycopeptides and carbapenems, to overcome resistance. She was a member of several drug-development project teams including that of the carbapenem INVANZÒ. As a member of an in-licensing committee, she was involved in due diligence of academic and biotech projects and compounds.
After taking early retirement from Merck, she became an independent consultant in antibacterial discovery and pre-clinical development in 2004. Throughout her career, she has authored significant research papers and reviews in the field of bacterial genetics, physiology, and biochemistry, as well as the challenges to discovery of antibacterial agents. Currently, she has been participating in scientific advisory boards of several groups funding antibiotic discovery and development.