Professor Sharon Peacock

Professor Peacock is a clinical microbiologist based within the Departments of Medicine and Pathology, and works closely with the Health Protection Agency and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

She has recently returned to the UK after 7 years at the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Thailand, where she directed a wide-ranging programme of bacterial disease research. There, she developed a major interest in melioidosis, a severe bacterial infection caused by the environmental bacterium (and biothreat organism) Burkholderia pseudomallei. She continues to support studies overseas on a range of aspects relating to this disease, with a particular emphasis on the development of strategies for prevention.

In the UK, Professor Peacock focuses on the role of sequencing technologies in diagnostic microbiology and public health. This follows a study demonstrating for the first time that whole genome sequencing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) could define transmission pathways at both global and local levels (see reference list, below). A UKCRC Translational Infection Research Initiative grant of 3.2M has funded the development of a Cambridge UKCRC Consortium to develop tools that interpret genome sequence and provide user-friendly web-based platforms for use by public health organizations, diagnostic laboratories and healthcare workers. This will be developed to study global, national and regional transmission pathways of major drug-resistant bacterial pathogens.

Professor Peacock chairs the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Initiative; is co-director of the Infection and Immunity Theme, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre; is a member of the Medical Research Council Infection and Immunity Board; and is a member of the Medical Technologies Advisory Committee, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Professor Peacock is currently unable to accept PhD students.