Microbiology

Microbiology at York spans fundamental and applied research.

Our strengths in environmental microbiology and microbial evolution are complemented with expertise in microbial DNA metabolism and synthetic biology. We apply our collective expertise to industrial biotechnology and bioenergy projects.

We study fundamental and applied disease-related mechanistic microbiology. Our research in this area has led to novel therapeutic drug leads.

Impact

Our microbiology research delivers positive benefits for industry, the environment and public health.

We focus on research that addresses three global challenges:

Research highlights

New antibiotic for gonorrhoea developed

Living bacteria discovered in polar ice and snow

Tackling antibiotic resistant genes in compost

People

Name	Expertise
Daniela Barillà	Mechanisms of genome segregation in Bacteria and Archaea Maintenance of multidrug resistance plasmids DNA-protein interactions
Neil Bruce	Microbial degradation of xenobiotic compounds Microbial degradation of lignocellulose 'omics analysis of microbial communities
James Chong	Anaerobic digestion Applied systems biology Methanogenic archaea
Julia Ferrari	Insect-microbe-symbiosis Evolutionary ecology of plant-insect-microbe-natural enemy interactions Ecological genetics of species interactions
Paul Fogg	Viruses of microbes Horizontal gene transfer Antibiotic resistance
Ville Friman	Host-parasite coevolution in microbial communities Plant-microbiome feedbacks Pathogen biocontrol and phage therapy in agricultural and clinical contexts
Michelle Hawkins	DNA replication Bacterial replication termination Replication-transcription conflicts
Angela Hodge	Plant-soil-microbial interactions Arbuscular mycorrhiza Nutrient cycling
Daniel Jeffares	Genome and molecular evolution Microbial population genomics and quantitative genetics UK-Brazil Joint Centre Partnership in leishmaniasis
Jeremy Mottram	Molecular and cellular parasitology Leishmaniasis Genetic and chemical validation of drug targets
James Moir	Microbiological diagnostics and new drugs Biological pesticide degradation Nitrogen cycling in natural environments and the human body
Jennifer Potts	Structural biology Host-pathogen interactions Surface proteins of Gram-positive bacteria
Federico Sabbadin	Fungal virulence factors Plant pathogens
Gavin Thomas	Bacterial transporters Sialic acid in bacteria Bacterial symbionts of insects
Jamie Wood	Mathematical and computational methods Systems biology Microbial ecology and metabolism
J Peter W Young	Population genomics of bacteria Genome-based bacterial taxonomy Diversity of rhizobia