I study the evolution, transmission and antimicrobial resistance of bacterial pathogens, with a particular focus on Staphylococcus aureus. My work combines population genomics, comparative genomics and epidemiological metadata to investigate host adaptation, mobile genetic elements, antimicrobial resistance and One Health transmission dynamics across humans, animals and environments.
Biography
Assistant Research Professor in Evolutionary Pathogen Genomics
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow
Bacterial evolution, antimicrobial resistance and One Health pathogen genomics.
My research focuses on the evolutionary genomics of bacterial pathogens, with a particular emphasis on Staphylococcus aureus. I use population genomics, comparative genomics and epidemiological metadata to investigate host adaptation, transmission, antimicrobial resistance and the role of mobile genetic elements in pathogen evolution.
I am particularly interested in how bacterial lineages move between humans, animals and environments, and how genomic data can be used to understand One Health transmission dynamics, antimicrobial resistance risk and the ecological context of bacterial adaptation.
Research
Evolutionary microbiology; pathogen genomics; Staphylococcus aureus population genomics; antimicrobial resistance; mobile genetic elements; host adaptation; host switching; One Health; comparative genomics; genomic epidemiology.
Publications
Matuszewska, M., Dabrowska, A., Murray, G. G. R., Kett, S. M., Vick, A. J. A., Banister, S. C., Pantoja Munoz, L., Cunningham, P., Welch, J. J., Holmes, M. A., & Weinert, L. A. (2023). Absence of Staphylococcus aureus in Wild Populations of Fish Supports a Spillover Hypothesis. Microbiology Spectrum. https://doi.org/10.1128/SPECTRUM.04858-22/SUPPL_FILE/SPECTRUM.04858-22-S...
Walsh, S. K., Imrie, R. M., Matuszewska, M., Paterson, G. K., Weinert, L. A., Hadfield, J. D., Buckling, A., & Longdon, B. (2023). The host phylogeny determines viral infectivity and replication across Staphylococcus host species. PLOS Pathogens, 19(6), e1011433. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PPAT.1011433
Matuszewska, M., Murray, G. G. R., Ba, X., Wood, R., Holmes, M. A., & Weinert, L. A. (2022). Stable antibiotic resistance and rapid human adaptation in livestock-associated MRSA. ELife, 11. https://doi.org/10.7554/ELIFE.74819
Matuszewska, M., Murray, G. G. R., Harrison, E. M., Holmes, M. A., & Weinert, L. A. (2020). The Evolutionary Genomics of Host Specificity in Staphylococcus aureus. Trends in Microbiology, 28(6), 465–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.TIM.2019.12.007
Bonn, C. M., Rafiqullah, I. M., Crawford, J. A., Qian, Y. M., Guthrie, J. L., Matuszewska, M., Robinson, D. A., & McGavin, M. J. (2023). Repeated Emergence of Variant TetR Family Regulator, FarR, and Increased Resistance to Antimicrobial Unsaturated Fatty Acid among Clonal Complex 5 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00749-22
Zou, G., Matuszewska, M., Bai, F., Wang, S., Wang, S., Li, H., Ke, Y., Tang, C., Li, J., Tang, J., & Zhou, R. (2022). Genomic analyses of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from yaks in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 77(4), 910–920. https://doi.org/10.1093/JAC/DKAC011
Zou, G., Matuszewska, M., Jia, M., Zhou, J., Ba, X., Duan, J., Zhang, C., Zhao, J., Tao, M., Fan, J., Zhang, X., Jin, W., Cui, T., Zeng, X., Jia, M., Qian, X., Huang, C., Zhuo, W., Yao, Z., … Zhou, R. (2022). A Survey of Chinese Pig Farms and Human Healthcare Isolates Reveals Separate Human and Animal Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Populations. Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/ADVS.202103388
Murray, G. G. R., Balmer, A. J., Herbert, J., Hadijirin, N. F., Kemp, C. L., Matuszewska, M., Bruchmann, S., Mukarram Hossain, A. S. M., Gottschalk, M., Tucker, A. W., Miller, E., & Weinert, L. A. (2021). Mutation rate dynamics reflect ecological change in an emerging zoonotic pathogen. PLOS Genetics, 17(11), e1009864. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PGEN.1009864
Zarkan, A., Matuszewska, M., Trigg, S. B., Zhang, M., Belgami, D., Croft, C., Liu, J., El-Ouisi, S., Greenhalgh, J., Duboff, J. S., Rahman, T., & Summers, D. K. (2020). Inhibition of indole production increases the activity of quinolone antibiotics against E. coli persisters. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/S41598-020-68693-W
Zarkan, A., Liu, J., Matuszewska, M., Gaimster, H., & Summers, D. K. (2020). Local and Universal Action: The Paradoxes of Indole Signalling in Bacteria. Trends in Microbiology, 28(7), 566–577. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.TIM.2020.02.007
Marvasi, M., Durie, I. A., Henríquez, T., Satkute, A., Matuszewska, M., & Prado, R. C. (2016). Dispersal of human and plant pathogens biofilms via nitric oxide donors at 4 °C. AMB Express, 6(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/S13568-016-0220-1/FIGURES/4
Teaching and Supervisions
I welcome enquiries from students interested in bacterial evolution, pathogen genomics, antimicrobial resistance, mobile genetic elements, One Health microbiology and Staphylococcus aureus population genomics. Potential projects may involve comparative genomics, phylogenetics, large-scale public genome datasets, epidemiological metadata integration and questions around host adaptation or transmission.
