Research within the Salmonella Group at the Institute of Food Research fits into the UK’s grand challenge of maintaining global food security into the 21st century and focuses on:

• The regulation of virulence gene expression in response to infection.
• The role of global gene regulators in bacterial virulence.
• The metabolism of Salmonella during infection.
• Novel methods for the inactivation of Salmonella.

In order to address these objectives we are using a variety of post-genomic tools, including next-generation transcriptomics (dRNA-seq), DNA microarrays, proteomics, and the analysis of transcriptional networks.

Left to right: Neil Shearer, Vinoy Ramachandran, Arthur Thompson, Ana Fernandez

Dr. Arthur Thompson

I was awarded a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Kent, Canterbury and a PhD in Molecular Biology from UMIST, Manchester. I joined the IFR in 1996 and jointly set up and headed the IFR microarray facility in 2000. I became leader of the IFR Salmonella group in 2009. My research interests include the role of signal transduction molecules and pathways in the regulation of Salmonella virulence gene expression as well as how Salmonella metabolism adapts during the infection process. Over the previous five years I have been awarded two BBSRC funded research grants and filed international patents for developing live attenuated Salmonella vaccines.

Dr. Ana Fernández Rodríguez

I was awarded a degree in Food Science and Technology in 2002 from the University of León (Spain).  In 2003 I won a fellowship to complete my PhD thesis on the resistance of foodborne bacteria (Enterococcus faecium, Salmonella spp and Listeria monocytogenes) to inactivation treatments. Later, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fundación Caja Madrid to take up a position in a prestigious world-class centre for food research.  I chose the IFR, and began work in Tim Brocklehurst’s group (January 2009 to March 2010). In March 2010, I won a 2 year Marie Curie Fellowship and commenced research in the IFR Salmonella group. My studies focus on the application of an emerging technology (cold atmospheric gas plasma) for the decontamination of food. Plasma is ionized gas that is comprised of highly energetic species in permanent interaction including photons, electrons, positive and negative ions, atoms, free radicals and excited or non-excited molecules that in combination can inactivate microorganisms. Targets will primarily include vegetable products but the technique could also be applied to meats and food packaging materials.

Dr. Neil Shearer

I was awarded my degree in Microbiology from the University of East Anglia in 1996, and a PhD in 2000. For my PhD thesis I studied the regulation of denitrification in Paracoccus denitrificans. Subsequent postdoctoral positions at UEA and JIC focused on nitric oxide signalling in Paracoccus denitrificans, regulation of nitrogen fixation in Azotobacter vilnlandii and the purification of plant and microbial signalling proteins. I joined the IFR in 2006 and began work in the Campylobacter group on host acute stress responses and the regulation of Campylobacter jejuni virulence factors. I was awarded an IFR-funded competitive research scholarship in 2008 and won a joint IFR/UEA synergy award in 2009 to study the role of signalling molecules in Campylobacter. In 2010 I joined the IFR Salmonella group where my research interest in the role of signalling molecules and transduction pathways in relation to virulence gene expression continues.

Dr. Vinoy Ramachandran

I was awarded my degree in Microbiology from the Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India in 1998 and went on to obtain an MSc in Bioinformatics from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India in 2003. I completed my PhD in Microbiology at the University of Reading, UK in 2008. For my PhD research I used comparative and functional genomics (derived from microarray data) to reconstruct the metabolic pathways of Rhizobium leguminosarum during colonization of the pea rhizosphere. In November 2008, I joined the IFR Salmonella group as a BBSRC-funded postdoctoral training fellow. I am interested in the role of the bacterial alarmone, guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) and RNA polymerase accessory proteins in the transcriptional regulation of Salmonella virulence gene expression programmes. This involves using cutting edge techniques such as next-generation transcriptomics (RNA-seq), and chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with transcriptomics (ChIP-chip).