Maiden Lab

About the Group

Whole-organism biology of bacterial pathogens

Bacterial diseases remain major ongoing threats to human health, with the evolution and spread of resistance to antimicrobial agents highlighting the challenge that pathogenic bacteria still present. Our research endeavours to understand bacterial disease as a biological process: an interaction between the bacterium and its host or hosts. We seek to translate the insights gained into practical applications in the improvement of public health by interventions such as vaccination and food safety measures.
We take an explicitly ecological and evolutionary approach that seeks to integrate and exploit the microbiological insights that have been gained from the major technical and conceptual advances in microbiology:

  • Germ theory and pure culture techniques;
  • Immunological and biochemical insights obtained by in vitro and in vivoanalyses;
  • Molecular genetics and sequencing, including populaiton studies and epidemiology.

A principal goal is to combine diverse sources of information to link genotype, including whole genome sequences, with phenotype. While our research mostly focuses on two genera of pathogenic bacteria, Neisseria and Camplyobacter, the approaches that we have developed are generalisable and have been applied to a wide range of bacteria including non-pathogens, by ourselves and others.

For more information visit: https://maidenlab.zoo.ox.ac.uk/                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Members

PI: Martin Maiden
PA: Andrea Kastner

Researchers: Holly Bratcher, James Bray, Alison Cody, Frances Colles, Odile Harrison, Keith Jolley, Jenny MacLennan, Noel McCarthy, Margaret Varga, Sophie Hedges, Charlene Rodrigues

DPhil students: Clare Barker, Eveliina Hanski, Dessislava Veltcheva

Recent Publications

Lourenço J, Watkins ER, Obolski U, Peacock SJ, Morris C, Maiden MCJ, Gupta S. Lineage structure of Streptococcus pneumoniae may be driven by immune selection on the groEL heat-shock protein. Sci Rep 2017, 7:9023

Cooper LV, Boukary RM, Aseffa A, Mihret W, Collard JM, Daugla D, Hodgson A, Sokhna C, Omotara B, Sow S, Quaye SL, Diallo K, Manigart O, Maiden MCJ, Findlow H, Borrow R, Stuart JM, Greenwood BM, Trotter CL. Investigation of correlates of protection against pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis genogroups W and Y in the African meningitis belt. PLoS One 2017, 12:e0182575

Pandey AK, Cleary DW, Laver JR, Maiden MCJ, Didelot X, Gorringe A, Read RC. Neisseria lactamica Y92-1009 complete genome sequence. Stand Genomic Sci 2017, 12:41

Sharp C, Bray J, Housden NG, Maiden MCJ, Kleanthous C. Diversity and distribution of nuclease bacteriocins in bacterial genomes revealed using Hidden Markov Models. PLoS Comput Biol 2017, 13:e1005652

Mowlaboccus S, Jolley KA, Bray JE, Pang S, Lee YT, Bew JD, Speers DJ, Keil AD, Coombs GW, Kahler CM. Clonal Expansion of New Penicillin-Resistant Clade of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup W Clonal Complex 11, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis 2017, 23:

Harrison OB, Schoen C, Retchless AC, Wang X, Jolley KA, Bray JE, Maiden MCJ. Neisseria genomics: current status and future perspectives. Pathog Dis 2017, 75:

Lucidarme J, Lekshmi A, Parikh SR, Bray JE, Hill DM, Bratcher HB, Gray SJ, Carr AD, Jolley KA, Findlow J, Campbell H, Ladhani SN, Ramsay ME, Maiden MCJ, Borrow R. Frequent capsule switching in ‘ultra-virulent’ meningococci – Are we ready for a serogroup B ST-11 complex outbreak? J Infect 2017, 75:95-103

Diallo K, Gamougam K, Daugla DM, Harrison OB, Bray JE, Caugant DA, Lucidarme J, Trotter CL, Hassan-King M, Stuart JM, Manigart O, Greenwood BM, Maiden MCJ. Hierarchical genomic analysis of carried and invasive serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis during the 2011 epidemic in Chad. BMC Genomics 2017, 18:398

Pascoe B, Méric G, Yahara K, Wimalarathna H, Murray S, Hitchings MD, Sproston EL, Carrillo CD, Taboada EN, Cooper KK, Huynh S, Cody AJ, Jolley KA, Maiden MCJ, McCarthy ND, Didelot X, Parker CT, Sheppard SK. Local genes for local bacteria: Evidence of allopatry in the genomes of transatlantic Campylobacter populations. Mol Ecol 2017, 26:4497-4508

Karah N, Jolley KA, Hall RM, Uhlin BE. Database for the ampC alleles in Acinetobacter baumannii. PLoS One 2017, 12:e0176695

Cody AJ, Bray JE, Jolley KA, McCarthy ND, Maiden MCJ. Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme for Stable, Comparative Analyses