Evolution is a key aspect of the biology of many pathogens, driving processes ranging from immune escape to changes in virulence.
Pathogens exhibit remarkable abilities to out-manoeuvre therapeutic intervention. This outcome is driven by evolution, either as a direct response to intervention (e.g. the evolution of antibiotic resistance), or through long-term co-evolution generating host or parasite traits that interact with therapy in undesirable or unpredictable ways. To make progress, here at Cambridge our researchers are integrating the concepts and techniques of evolutionary biology with traditional approaches to immunology and pathogen biology. An interdisciplinary approach can inform control strategies, or even patient treatment, positioning us to meet the current and future challenges of controlling infectious diseases.
Explore Campus
Research groups are found across several university departments and local research institutes, and include:
- Bacterial Infection Group in the Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Parasitology (Trypanosoma , Schisotoma, and Toxoplasma)research groups based in the Departments of Pathology and Biochemistry
- Virology Research groups based in Pathology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Medicine
- Research on Erwinia & Serratia in the Department of Biochemistry
Emergency medicine doctor
Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
Department of Pathology
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Parasitology
T. gondii genome sequence information to investigate basic properties of the host-parasite interaction.
Principal Investigator, MRC Career Development Award
Department of Veterinary Medicine
Associate Professor
Department of Pathology
Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like pathways in malaria and other parasites
I am interested in studying the microbial pathogenesis, evolution and diversity using genomics and bioinformatics tools.
Department of Medicine, CITIID.
Molecular microbiologist; enteric infections in developing countries with an emphasis on Norovirus, Shigella spp. and Salmonella Typhi.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Parasites and Microbes Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Molecular Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Phylogenetics, Phylodynamics, Molecular/Genomic Epidemiology, Genomic Surveillance. Sexually Transmitted Infections, Neglected Tropical Diseases, Global Health.
Research Assistant, Clinical School
I work on elucidating the basis of S. aureus carriage in the human nasopharynx.
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Genomics of bacterial pathogenesis with a particular focus on pneumonia and meningitis
Postdoctoral Researcher, Baker Lab, Department of Genetics
What I do: Analysis of AMR emergence in Shigella population through genomics and statistical modelling
Research Interests: Genomic epidemiology and evolution of pathogens. Statistical modeling, software development for outbreak reconstruction.
Department of Biochemistry
Structural biology, bioinformatics and drug discovery
PhD Student at the Department of Biochemistry
Biofilm regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Department of Pathology
Translational control; ribosomal frameshifting and readthrough; virus gene expression; RNA structure and function
44-1223-336914
Department of Physics
Development of Therapeutics for Bacterial Infectious Diseases, including Traumatic Injury Infection and Biothreat Agents
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Intestinal microbiota; evolution of intestinal spore-forming bacteria in human gut.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Veterinary Medicine
I use functional genomics to study AMR and Host-pathogen interactions in Enterobacteriaceae.
Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Within host evolution of cystic fibrosis pathogens
Department of Biochemistry
Molecular Cell Biology of Trypanosomes
+44 1223 333683
ESPOD Research Fellow, EMBL-EBI & Sanger Institute
Junior Research Fellow, Wolfson College
Bacterial mobilome and pathogens evolution
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Molecular epidemiology and evolution of bacterial pathogens particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae
Postdoctoral Scientist, at Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR)
Department of Land Economy.
Economics of Infectious Disease including strategic epidemiology, social experiments, atefactual experiments, and mass drug administration for disease control.
Postdoctoral fellow, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Developing new single cell sequencing technologies that work on thousands of cells in parallel
Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Bacterial spore structure and germination; structural biology (protein crystallography); coronavirus testing and inactivation
We study bacterial spores (e.g. Bacillus and Clostridium), with a focus on their assembly, structure, and germination.
Department of Pathology
Translation control; gene expression mechanisms; ribosome profiling; RNA structure and function
Department of Physics
Salmonella infection of macrophages; bacterial adhesion in airways; P.falciparum (Malaria) egress and invasion in red blood cells; gene expression noise in E.coli; new phenotipic responses to antibiotics; microfluidics/single cell imaging.
Integration of bacterial whole-genome data with epidemiological, clinical and phenotypic data to glean biological insights
Research Associate in pathogen evolution, at Pathogen Genomics and Evolution Lab
Department of Veterinary Medicine
Research Associate in Microbial Genomics, Department of Veterinary Medicine
Infectious disease mortality in historical populations; smallpox; tuberculosis ; influenza; puerperal infections
Principal Investigator, Cambridge Institute Medical Research (CIMR)
Molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions during bacterial infection
Academic Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases, at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
PhD Student at Baker Group, CITIID, University of Cambridge
Typhoid and Paratyphoid fever in LMICs
Research Associate at Floto Lab, Department of Medicine
Functional Genomics
Previous Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford
A writer of books on infectious diseases
Herpesviruses, virus-host interaction, non-coding RNAs, transcriptional regulation, systems biology, infection and immunity
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow / Sanger Career Development Fellow, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Population genomics of drug selection in two veterinary parasites, Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia circumcincta
Professor of Respiratory Biology
Co-Director, Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine
Research Director and Honorary Consultant, Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection, Royal Papworth Hospital
Honorary Consultant, Respiratory Immunology service, Cambridge University Hospitals
Co-Director, Cambridge Infectious Diseases Interdisciplinary Research Centre
MRC Fellow in Biomedical Informatics
Junior Research Fellow at Homerton College
CJ Martin Biomedical Research Fellow, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Sam's work combines microbiology, immunology and computational analysis to interactions between the microbiota and pathogen
Senior University Lecturer in Cellular & Molecular Microbiology
Head of the Division of Microbiology & Parasitology, Department of Pathology
Niccoli Fellow in the Natural Sciences & Director of Studies, Queens' College
Research Assistant
Whole genome sequencing of MRSA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Clostridium difficile from patient samples
A consultant in infectious diseases with an interest in primary and secondary immunodeficiencies and transplantation.
Department of Pathology
Virus-host interactions, with particular emphasis on noroviruses.
Professor of Virus:Host Interactions
Department of Veterinary Medicine
Host-pathogen interactions and the molecular basis of virulence.
Postdoctoral fellow (Marie Currie Sklodowska Action)
Bacterial genomics and evolution group, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Career Development Fellow - UKRI Innovation Fellowship, at Wellcome Sanger Institute
Senior Research Associate, Department of Medicine
Honorary Fellow in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care
Genomics of inflamation and immunity. Staphylococcus aureus in humans and animals.
Technical Specialist at Genomic Surveillance Unit
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Comparative Pathology of Viral Infections
Head of the Lab of Viral Zoonotics
Contact: jlh66@cam.ac.uk
Professor in Microbial Genomics & Veterinary Science
Director of Studies in Clinical Veterinary Medicine (Churchill College)
+44 1223 337636
We are interested in the molecular biology of the remnant chloroplast (apicoplast) in apicomplexan parasites (e.g. Plasmodium)
PhD Student in Pathogen Biology and Evolution
Department of Pharmacology
Keywords: Bacterial multidrug transporters; Antimicrobial Resistance
Senior Bioinformatician at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Data analysis and Visualisation on GPS and JUNO Project
Research Group Leader, Virology, Department of Pathology
Understanding the role of Zika virus genome translation in viral pathogenicity and disease
Project Manager and Principal Bioinformatician at Wellcome Sanger Institute
Comparative genomics of Staphylococcus aureus
PhD student, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge
Mechanism of mecA mediated the susceptibility of MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics
The evolution and genetics of insects and their pathogens
01223 333175
NGS based characterization of the population structure and evolution of Enterobacteriaceae.
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science and Associate Principal Investigator
Public policy evaluation; Health economics
Group Leader: Vector-parasite interactions
We use genomic approaches to better understand mosquito populations and parasite transmission dynamics.
Research Fellow, Department of Zoology
Social evolution and virulence in parasites by way of experimental evolution of various strains of bacteria and bacteriophages
Project Manager / Principal Bioinformatician, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Genomics, bacterial diseases, LMIC, antimicrobial resistance
Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry
Structural and functional characterization of membrane transporters related to virulence and drug resistance from Mycobacteria
Group Leader at Quadram Institute
Epidemiology, evolution and dynamics of foodborne and zoonotic bacteria, with a particular focus on antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
Veterinary Epidemiologist, Department of Veterinary Medicine
Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance
Wellcome Trust Research Fellow
Director of Studies for History and Philosophy of Science, Magdalene College
Glycoprotein structural studies and phylogenetic analysis to study evolutionary virology.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Pathology
Basic biology of the human malaria parasite and impact of this biology on virulence. Molecular genetics and cell biology
Runs the Cambridge Ancient Parasites Laboratory
Senior Research Associate, McDonald Institute, Department of Archaeology
Hospital Consultant (specialist) in NHS
Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow
Reader in Virology and Immunology
01223 267282
Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biochemistry
My research utilises proteomics to better understand the interactions between African trypanosomes and their hosts.
Professor of comparative oncology and genetics
Group Leader in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, UCL
PhD Student at Baker's lab, Department of Medicine/CITIID, University of Cambridge
Monoclonal antibody therapies for the treatment of Acinetobacter baumannii
PhD student, Department of Biochemistry
Polymicrobial infections and biofilm formation in human airway infection scenarios
PhD Student, Smith group, Department of Zoology
I use computational methods to study vaccines against evolving viruses (SARS-CoV-2, Influenza)
Professor of Bacterial Evolution, Department of Veterinary Medicine
The emergence, transmission and evolution of bacterial pathogens
Research Associate at De Angelis group, MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge
Director, COVID-19 genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) and Professor of Public Health & Microbiology
Senior Research Associate
Department of Medicine
University of Cambridge
Department of Veterinary Medicine
Postdoctoral Research Associate assisting Professor Mark Holmes
Research Associate, Department of Medicine
Translating pathogen genomics into clinical and public health microbiology, evolution and transmission of pathogenic enterococci.
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.
Trafficking and processing of bacterial proteins by mammalian cells.
Senior Staff Scientist, at Wellcome Sanger Institute
Host-parasite interactions in parasites such as malaria and whipworm using nextgen sequencing and informatics
Hospital acquired bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance.
EBPOD Postdoctoral Fellow, at EMBL-EBI
My research focus is the translational application of bacterial whole genome sequencing in clinical environments.
Research Associate, Department of Medicine
Research topic: Mutational spectra and evolution of pathogens
Assistant Director for Biological Sciences & EU Matters, RO
Research support for School of Biological Sciences and EU funding
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Zoology
What I do: I am developing methodologies to detect, isolate, sequence and match ancient antibodies (degraded immunoglobulin proteins)
Research Interests: Immunology, protein degradation, ancient DNA, palaeoproteomics, infectious diseases
Gatsby Research Group Leader
We study plant processes underlying the accommodation of beneficial and pathogenic microbes.
Postdoctoral Scientist
Department of Zoology
I work on building mathematical models to predict the evolution of influenza.
Clinical Lecturer in Virology, Department of Pathology
Mathematical analyses of viral genomic data to predict function and drug targets
Department of Zoology
Evolution and population dynamics of antigenically variable pathogens, particularly influenza viruses but also malaria, HIV, and HCV.
Department of Veterinary Medicine
Molecular microbiologist using glycoengineering approaches to develop vaccines to prevent bacterial disease in chickens
PhD Student, Duque-Correa Lab, Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
PhD student leading the canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) project
MPhil Student at Pathogens and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Bacteriophage and Bacteria co-evolution
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology
Fellow of Queens' College (Part 1A MIMS supervisor)
Biological Safety Officer (Dept. Vet Medicine)
(01223) 339554 (Vet medicine) (01223) 330180 (Queens')
Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Veterinary Medicine
Pathogen genomics; Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) and various Mycobacterium species.
Research Associate, Department of Zoology
Mathematical modelling of biological systems, dynamical systems
Professor of Molecular Pharmacology (grade 11)
Focus on Antimicrobial Resistance research
01223-765295
Part III student in Martin Welch's lab, working on the regulation of isocitrate lyase activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Molecular Cell Biology and Evolution of Apicomplexan Parasites
+44 (0)1223 766057
Animal pathogens, vaccine, antimicrobial resistance and functional genomics
Professor of Viral Immunology, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
I use cutting-edge proteomics to identify and characterise novel aspects of innate antiviral immunity.
01223 767811
Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Henry Dale Fellow
Principal Investigator
01223 766247
Department of Biochemistry
Regulation of microbial virulence and biofilms in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Quorum sensing, anti-bacterials, stringent response.
