Staff and postgraduate students
|
Dr Ronan McCarthy
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences Email: ronan.mccarthy@brunel.ac.uk Twitter: @mccarthy_ronan Ronan gained his Bachelor of Science in Genetics with first class honours from University College Cork, Ireland in 2010 and was awarded the title of College Scholar. In autumn 2010, Ronan was awarded an Irish Research Council PhD Scholarship to study novel biofilm inhibition strategies against the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lab of Professor Fergal O’Gara. In 2014, Ronan joined the research group of Professor Alain Filloux at the MRC Centre for Bacteriology and Infection at Imperial College London. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ronan interrogated the second messenger signalling cascades that govern the biofilm mode of growth in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Following on from his time at Imperial College Ronan joined the Microbiology Department at the Animal and Plant Health Agency where he used host transcriptomics and pathway analysis to profile the host response to infection. He joined the Biosciences Division in Brunel University to continue his analysis of the regulatory networks that govern pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation in the Gram negative opportunistic pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. |
|
Dr Sophie Howard
Research Fellow Email: sophie.howard@brunel.ac.uk Google Scholar: https://bit.ly/SAHoward Twitter: @Sophie_howard Sophie joined the McCarthy lab at Brunel University as a post-doctoral research fellow in December 2020 after completing her PhD at Imperial College London. During Sophie's PhD, she investigated the type VI secretion system (T6SS) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in order to uncover novel antibacterial toxins and understand how they are delivered. Her PhD was undertaken in Professor Alain Filloux’s research group at the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection in 2016-2020. Prior to this, Sophie completed her undergraduate degree in Medical Microbiology and Virology at the University of Warwick and a MRes in Bacterial Pathogenesis and Infection at Imperial College London. Sophie’s current research in the division of biosciences at Brunel University focusses on investigating the ability of bacteria, primarily Pseudomonas species, to degrade plastic with a hope to contribute to combatting the global problems surrounding plastic waste. |
|
Dr Chris Proctor
Research Fellow Email: chris.proctor@brunel.ac.uk Twitter: @ChrisProctorUUC Chris originally trained as a nurse at Cardiff University. After qualifying in 2013 and practicing for several years in a range of clinical areas including acute and long-term care, he returned to Ulster University, Northern Ireland to gain a BSc in Biotechnology with first class honours. In 2017 Chris was awarded the Napp Pharmaceuticals scholarship to complete an MRes in Translational Medicine at Queens University Belfast where he specialised in Infection, Immunology, and bacterial vaccine development. After being awarded an MRes with Distinction, Chris returned to Ulster University to complete his PhD in Microbiology and Pharmaceutics where his research focused on the development of novel chronic wound therapies incorporating bioactive phytochemicals. During his PhD Chris developed novel materials for pharmaceutical applications and a novel in vitro model of chronic wound biofilm. For his PhD research, and involvement in numerous community outreach, events Chris was awarded the 2020 Ulster University PhD Student of the Year Award. Chris joined the McCarthy lab in September 2021 and his research is currently focused on the development of novel polymer-based wound dressings for the application of bioactive phytochemicals to burn wounds. |
|
Dr Rubén de Dios
Research Fellow Email: ruben.dediosbarranco@brunel.ac.uk Twitter: @Ru_deDios Rubén obtained his Bachelor degree in Biotechnology at University Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla, Spain) in 2014, receiving the Excellence Award for best academic results in the Faculty of Experimental Sciences. After coursing his Master studies in the same University, he was awarded an FPU PhD training fellowship by the Spanish Ministry of Education in 2016 to carry out his thesis about the General Stress Response in the alphaproteobacterium Sphingopyxis granuli TFA at the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CABD) under the supervision of Prof. Francisca Reyes-Ramírez and Prof. Eduardo Santero. After graduating in 2021, Rubén joined the group of Prof. Fernando Govantes (CABD) for a short postdoctoral stay to study the transcriptional regulation of fleQ, a key element in the regulation of the lifestyle switch between biofilm formation and planktonic flagellar motility in Pseudomonas putida. In October 2021, he joined the McCarthy lab at Brunel University to work on the regulation of biofilm formation and desiccation survival in Acinetobacter baumannii. |
|
Kavita Gadar
Doctoral Researcher Email: kavita.gadar@brunel.ac.uk Twitter: @KavitaGadar Kavita's research aims to use lipidomics, genomics and in vivo modelling to gain a fundamental insight into the biological phenomena of how Acinetobacter baumannii can evolve resistance to the last resort antibiotic, Colistin. she also aims to disrupt the resistance mechanisms by exploring the use of phytochemicals as next generation antimicrobials. |
|
Evgenia Maslova
Doctoral Researcher Email: evgenia.maslova@brunel.ac.uk Twitter: @Evgenia_Maslova Evgenia's project focuses on the advancement of an invertebrate burn trauma and infection model using Galleria mellonella which McCarthy lab established in 2020. She is looking at immune and tissue responses to the trauma and host-pathogen interactions. Additionally, she is looking into the role of skin microbiome in burn injury and infection. |
|
Lyuboslava Harkova
Doctoral Researcher Email: lyuboslava.harkova@brunel.ac.uk Lyuboslava completed her degree in MSci Biomedical Sciences with first class honours from the University of Southampton, UK in 2020. As a master’s student under the supervision of Professor Jeremy Webb she did a project on biofilm formation by strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with natural variants of LasB elastase isolated from Cystic Fibrosis patients. Following on from that she joined the virology group in Bodimed medical diagnostic laboratory in Sofia, Bulgaria testing for SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious viruses. In autumn 2021, Lyuboslava was awarded a PhD studentship to study antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation in Acinetobacter baumannii and is now part of Dr Ronan McCarthy lab at Brunel University London. |
|
Jie Han
Doctoral Researcher Email: jie.han@brunel.ac.uk Jie Han obtained a bachelor's degree in pharmaceutical chemistry at Queen Mary University of London, completed her final undergraduate dissertation on Molecular simulation of Disordered materials under the supervision of Dr Devis Di Tommaso. She went to Brunel University London in 2019 to study Biomedical Genetics and Tissue Engineering. She completed her Master’s Dissertation on Developing Novel Tools that can be used to improve invertebrate models of burn wound trauma and infection under the supervision of Dr Ronan McCarthy as part of her Master’s programme. Jie's project focuses on developing novel anti-infective and healing-promoting materials and bioactive compounds with antibiotic properties. |
Masters students
Undergraduate students
Ciaram Staber
|
Manuela Ewane
|
Madina Sherzad
|
Tanbir Shahnur
|
|
Ria Molloy
|
Mario Martin
|
Fareed Rehman
|
Lab alumni
Rameesah Afzal
|
|
Shanga Osman (BSc)
|
|
Isaack Sbahtu (BSc)
|
|
Isa Habibior (BSc)
|
Andleeb Efzal (BSc)
|
|
Sara Arroyo-Moreno
Research assistant Sara has a BSc in Biotechnology and a MSc in Virology. She is doing a PhD about phage therapy against gram positive bacteria. Her research in Brunel is focused on developing bacteriophage endolysins to treat Gardnerella vaginalis, which causes bacterial vaginosis (BV). The aim of her research is to find new treatments for BV to overcome the problems related to antibiotic resistances. |
|
George Kirke
Research assistant |
