Mahenthiralingam, Eshwar - Cardiff University

个人简介

I was born in Penang, Malaysia, but grew up as a "Brummy" in Walsall, West Midlands, UK. My undergraduate studies (B.Sc. in Applied Biology; 1987) were completed at the then University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, which subsequently became part of Cardiff University. I completed a Ph.D. (Molecular Microbiology; 1991) at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London, working on mycobacteria, the bacteria most known for causing tuberculosis. After my PhD, I took up a postdoctoral position (1991) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. This is where I began to developing expertise in the cystic fibrosis microbiology, working on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria that cause devastating lung infections in these individuals. The two year postdoctoral position turned into a nine year stay, that included obtaining a Fellowship from the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, moving through several positions, with a final appointment as an Associate Professor in 1997. In June 1999, I joined Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, as a Lecturer, returning to Wales and the institution I had first studied within. I served on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology from 2000 to 2008, and continue to guest review for the American Society for Microbiology journals as well as many other science journals and grant funding bodies. In August, 2011, after previous promotions to Senior Lecturer (2004), and Reader (2007), I was promoted to Professor. I currently serve as the Postgraduate Tutor for the Organisms and Environment Division and coordinate the final year module "Human Infectious Diseases." While Burkholderia bacteria and cystic fibrosis microbiology remain major research foci, my interests are still wide and I am always getting involved in lots of very interesting molecular microbiology projects. In the last few years, we made a very exciting discovery that the Burkholderia bacteria I had studied as pathogens, also make some very potent antibiotics which kill other multidrug resistant bacteria and fungi. Antibiotic discovery has now become a major new research focus for me.

研究领域

My group has studied the pathogenesis and ecology of bacterial opportunistic pathogens, ranging from Pseudomonas aeruginosa to mycobacteria, with a major focus on Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria. Pseudomonas and Burkholderia bacteria cause devastating infections in people with cystic fibrosis and we have used molecular biology and genomic approaches to track their ability to spread between patients, resist killing by antibiotics and cause lung disease. Since both these bacteria are also important in the natural environment, we have also studied several aspects of their ecology. By understanding the complete biology of opportunistic bacterial pathogens in this way we hope to develop strategies to both treat human infection and also harness their considerable biotechnological potential. For example, our recent discovery that Burkholderia bacteria can produce novel polyketide antibiotics that target multidrug resistant bacterial infections is very exciting.

近期论文

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Depoorter, E.et al. 2016. Burkholderia: an update on taxonomy and biotechnological potential as antibiotic producers. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 100(12), pp. 5215-5229. (10.1007/s00253-016-7520-x) Cullen, L.et al. 2015. Phenotypic characterization of an international Pseudomonas aeruginosa reference panel: strains of cystic fibrosis (CF) origin show less in vivo virulence than non-CF strains. Microbiology 161(10), pp. 1961-1977. (10.1099/mic.0.000155) Flight, W.et al. 2015. Rapid detection of emerging pathogens and loss of microbial diversity associated with severe lung disease in cystic fibrosis. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 53(7), pp. 2022-2029. (10.1128/JCM.00432-15) Bull, M.et al. 2014. The domestication of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus acidophilus. Scientific Reports 4, article number: 7202. (10.1038/srep07202) pdf Weiser, R.et al. 2014. Evaluation of five selective media for the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using a strain panel from clinical, environmental and industrial sources. Journal of Microbiological Methods 99, pp. 8-14. (10.1016/j.mimet.2014.01.010) Vidal Quist, J.et al. 2014. Arabidopsis thaliana and Pisum sativum models demonstrate that root colonization is an intrinsic trait of Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria. Microbiology 160(2), pp. 373-384. (10.1099/mic.0.074351-0) Mahenthiralingam, E. 2014. Emerging cystic fibrosis pathogens and the microbiome. Paediatric Respiratory Reviews 15(Supp 1), pp. 13-15. (10.1016/j.prrv.2014.04.006) Bull, M.et al. 2013. The life history of 'Lactobacillus acidophilus' as a probiotic: a tale of revisionary taxonomy, misidentification and commercial success. FEMS Microbiology Letters 349(2), pp. 77-87. (10.1111/1574-6968.12293) Vidal Quist, J.et al. 2013. 'Bacillus thuringiensis' colonises plant roots in a phylogeny-dependent manner. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 86(3), pp. 474-489. (10.1111/1574-6941.12175) De Soyza, A.et al. 2013. Developing an international 'Pseudomonas aeruginosa' reference panel. MicrobiologyOpen 2(6), pp. 1010-1023. (10.1002/mbo3.141) pdf Denman, C.et al. 2013. Growth on mannitol-rich media elicits a genome-wide transcriptional response in Burkholderia multivorans that impacts on multiple virulence traits in an exopolysaccharide-independent manner. Microbiology 160(Pt 1), pp. 187-197. (10.1099/mic.0.072975-0) Knapp, L.et al. 2013. The effect of cationic microbicide exposure against 'Burkholderia cepacia' complex (Bcc); the use of 'Burkholderia lata' strain 383 as a model bacterium. Journal of Applied Microbiology 115(5), pp. 1117-1126. (10.1111/jam.12320) Sass, A.et al. 2013. The unexpected discovery of a novel low-oxygen-activated locus for the anoxic persistence of Burkholderia cenocepacia. ISME Journal 7(8), pp. 1568-1581. (10.1038/ismej.2013.36) Rushton, L.et al. 2013. Key role for efflux in the preservative susceptibility and adaptive resistance of Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 57(7), pp. 2972-2980. (10.1128/AAC.00140-13) pdf Baxter, C.et al. 2013. Intravenous antibiotics reduce the presence of Aspergillus in adult cystic fibrosis sputum. Thorax 68(7), pp. 652-657. (10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202412)