• DNA microarrays and global gene expression patterns
• Genomic indexing of Salmonella and E.coli
• Salmonella virulence gene expression during infectionLag Phase
• Salmonella Infection of Chicken oviduct (SafeHouse)
• Influence of Commensal flora, immune response and behaviour on Salmonella infection (VTRI104)
• Environmental regulation of the invasion and intracellular virulence gene programmes of Salmonella: a ppGpp dependent switch

• Regulation of Salmonella SPI1 & SPI2
• Bacterial nitrate metabolism in colonisation of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract
• Analysis of factors affecting Salmonella contamination of meat during the slaughter process (Biotracer)

• "Non genetic variation" gene expression within bacterial populations (Finished)

• Nucleoid associated proteins: DNA topology and gene expression.
• Acambis project on enterotoxigenic E.coli (Finished)

E. coli Vaccine project

Main researcher: Vittoria Danino

Enterotoxigenic E. coli ( ETEC) is responsible for 500 000 infant deaths each year in countries where it is endemic. It also causes 40 % of travellers diarrhoea. 75 % of these cases are due to one of five ETEC strains. Acambis plc., based in Cambridge, UK are developing a live attenuated vaccine against these five strains.

The goal of the project is to incorporate genomic analysis using microarray techniques into the R&D process for live attenuated bacterial vaccines against Enterotoxigenic E. coli, to protect against traveller's Diarrhoea.

Dr Vittoria Danino has been appointed to perform this work in the Molecular Microbiology Group.

Some of the key questions to be addressed are:

1. The vaccine candidates that have been tested clinically to date are global regulatory mutants of an ETEC strain that expresses CS1/CS3 fimbriae. Will the introduction of the same mutations into other strains that express alternative colonising factor antigens (CFAs) have an equivalent effect on their expression profile?
   
   
2. What is the impact of various attenuating mutations on gene expression in the candidate ETEC vaccine strains under a variety of growth conditions? We have a number of singly and multiply mutated progenitors of two strains that have been tested in clinical trials which will be studied by a microarray-based approach.