Ben Pascoe
Summary
My research interests are mainly focused around how pathogenic bacteria equip themselves to withstand stresses during survival and transmission. For my DPhil at the University of Sussex (2004-8) I studied the role of zinc in modulation of Streptomyces coelicolor ribosome structure under stressful conditions. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Swansea (2009 – 2012) I studied the role persistence and dormancy in chronic infection with Staphylococcus aureus. I moved on to the the Campy Lab at Swansea (2012 – 2016), where we we mined a database of sequenced Campylobacter isolates to study how pathogenic isolates evolve from non-pathogenic reservoir populations.
In Bath I currently manage the sequencing facility at the Milner Centre for Evolution and work with Professor Sam Sheppard where we use genetics/genomics and phenotypic studies to address complex questions in the ecology, epidemiology and evolution of microbes. Our most recent interest focuses upon comparative genome analysis to describe the core and flexible genome of pathogenic bacteria (Campylobacter, Staphylococcus, Helicobacter and Escherichia coli) and how this is related to population genetic structuring, the maintenance of species, and the evolution of host/niche adaptation and virulence.
Biochemistry Bioinformatics Ecology Epidemiology Evolutionary Studies Food Science & Technology Genetics Genomics Global Health Infectious Diseases Microbiology Molecular Biology