skip to content

An Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Cambridge
 

Biography

Tracy Wang did her PhD on the diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis in China and identification of novel cry genes jointly in Nankai University, China and Bayer Crop Science, Belgium.  Tracy was an Associated Professor in Microbiology at Nankai University before she came to the Department of Biochemistry of University of Cambridge as a Wellcome Trust Fellow in 2003 working on characterisation of virulence factors in Bt. Tracy moved to Professor Duncan Maskell's group at Vet School since 2006, worked on developing Salmonella vaccines expressing Campylobacter antigens for control of C. jejuni in poultry, then moved on a further grant using genome-wide analysis of Salmonella infecting livestock hosts, currently she is working on a BBSRC LOLA project on vaccine and diagnostic development of respiratory pathogens of pigs, mainly focus on Streptococcus suis.

Research

My research interests lie in the bacteria infectious diseases related filed. I have worked with various pathogens including Bacillus thuringiensis, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and currently working on an important pig respiratory and zoonotic pathogen S. suis.  I have successfully developed a Tn917 based technology to generate a S. suis  library containing more than 12,000 mutants.  Functional genomic study by screening the mutant library through in vivo organ culture system and using TraDIS (transposon directed insertion site sequencing) technology, together with the analysis of  the whole genome sequencing of 200 S. suis filed isolates, we aimed to identify genes important for S. suis colonisation in pigs, select new vaccine candidates and genetic markers for diagnostic tools. 

Publications

Key publications: 
  1. Weinert LA, Chaudhuri RR, Wang J, Peters SE, Corander J, Jombart T, Baig A, Howell KJ, Vehkala M, Välimäki N, Harris D, Chieu TT, Van Vinh Chau N, Campbell J, Schultsz C, Parkhill J, Bentley SD, Langford PR, Rycroft AN, Wren BW, Farrar J, Baker S, Hoa NT, Holden MT, Tucker AW, Maskell DJ; BRaDP1T Consortium. 2015. Genomic signatures of human and animal disease in the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis. Nature Communications Mar 31;6:6740.
  2. Chaudhuri RR, Morgan E, Peters SE, Pleasance SJ, Hudson DL, Davies HM, Wang J, van Diemen PM, Buckley AM, Bowen AJ, Pullinger GD, Turner DJ, Langridge GC, Turner AK, Parkhill J, Charles IG, Maskell DJ, Stevens MP. 2013. Comprehensive assignment of roles for Salmonella typhimurium genes in intestinal colonization of food-producing animals. PLOS Genetics. Apr;9(4):e1003456.
  3. Luan SL, Chaudhuri RR, Peters SE, Mayho M, Weinert LA, Crowther SA, Wang J, Langford PR, Rycroft A, Wren BW, Tucker AW, Maskell DJ; BRaDP1T Consortium. Generation of a Tn5 transposon library in Haemophilus parasuis and analysis by transposon-directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS). 2013. Veterinary Microbiology Oct 25;166(3-4):558-66.
  4. Wang J, Chaudhuri RR, Ellar DJ. 2010. Characterization of ISBth4, a functional new IS231 variant from Bacillus thuringiensis MEX312. Plasmid. 63: 46-52
  5. Buckley AM, J*. Wang, DL Hudson, AJ Grant, MA Jones, DJ Maskell and MP Stevens. 2010. Evaluation of live-attenuated Salmonella vaccines expressing Campylobacter antigens for control of C. jejuni in poultry. Vaccine, 28(4):1094-105. (* joint first author)
  6. Peters S.E., G.K. Paterson, E.S.D. Bandularatne, H.C. Northen, S. Pleasance, C. Willers, J. Wang, A.K. Foote, F. Constantino-Casas, T.J. Scase, B.A. Blacklaws, C.E.Bryant, P. Mastroeni, I.G. Charles and D.J. Maskell. 2010. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium trxA mutants are protective against virulent challenge and induce less inflammation than the live-attenuated vaccine strain SL3261. Infection and Immunity 78(1):326-36.
  7. Wang J., Steggles J. R.and D. J. Ellar. 2008. Molecular characterization of virulence defects in Bacillus thuringiensis mutants. FEMS Microbiology Letters 280: 127–134.
  8. Wang J., Gardiol, N., Burr. T., Salmond. G. P. and Welch. M. 2007. RelA-dependent (p)ppGpp production controls exoenzyme synthesis in Erwinia carotovora subsp. Atroseptica. Journal of Bacteriology. 189(21):7643-52.
  9. Smith, D., Wang, J., Swatton, J. E., Davenport, P., Price, B., Mikkelsen, H., Stickland, H., Nishikawa, K., Gardiol, N., Spring, David R. and Welch, M. 2006. Variations on a theme: diverse N-acyl homoserine lactone-mediated quorum sensing mechanisms in gram-negative bacteria. Review. Science Progress 89 (Pt 3-4):167-211.
  10. Steggles J. R., J. Wang*, and D. J. Ellar. 2005. Discovery of virulence genes of Bacillus thuringiensis using signature-tagged mutagenesis in an insect model of septicaemia. Current Microbiology. 53, 303-310. (*Corresponding author)
  11. Chen Y. H., Y.Y. Deng, J. Wang, J. Cai, and G. X. Ren. 2004. Melanin produced by a wild-type strain of Bacillus thuringiensis.   Journal of General and Applied Microbiology. 50(4).401
  12. Chen Y. H., H. X. Li, J. Wang, J. Cai, and G. X. Ren. 2004. Cloning of full cry1C gene from Btc and expression in crops beneficial bacteria Bacillus cereus. Acta Microbiologica Sinica. 31(1), 65-68.
  13. Wang J., A. Boets, J. Van Rie and G. X. Ren. 2003. Characterization of cry1, 2 and 9 genes in Bacillus thuringiensis isolates from China. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 82: 63–71.
Other publications: 

Patents

2003           Chen YH, BM Ma, J Cai, HB Dan, FM Liu, FL Liang, J Wang, CY Liu, TY Liu and GX Ren. 2003. Aerosols and its preparation method of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Colmeri. Chinese patent (CN200310107115.2, CN1593155)

2001           Chen YH, GX Ren, J Wang, CY Liu, SL Feng, WH Wu, F Wang and HX Li. Isolation and industrial application of strain Bt15A3 with multiply cry genes and high toxicity. Chinese patent (CN 01104421.7, CN1302866).

Animal pathogens, vaccine, antimicrobial resistance and functional genomics
Dr Tracy  Wang
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Collaborator profiles: 
Classifications: 
Departments and institutes: 
Person keywords: 
Genomics
Livestock
Drug Resistance
Host-Pathogen Interaction
Vaccine development
Public Health
Antimicrobial resistance
plasmids
Infection
Molecular Biology
Veterinary Science
Pathogenesis
Diagnostics
Bacteriology
Education
Quorum Sensing