Baillie, Les - Cardiff University - School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

个人简介

I graduated as Bachelor of Sciences from Plymouth University in 1982 and obtained an MPhil (part time) from the University of the West of England in 1991 and my PhD (part time) from the University of Sheffield in 2001

研究领域

Evolution, ecology and the role of bacteriophages in horizontal gene transfer My working hypothesis is that B. anthracis evolved from a strain of B.cereus through the horizontal acquisition of virulence factors from other bacilli. Using a number of molecular approaches, we have generated considerable data in support of this hypothesis. The presence of conserved prophages in the genome of every isolate of B.anthracis examined to date (>300 isolates) points to phages, in addition to plasmids, playing a role in gene transfer and evolution. Our recent isolation of phages capable of infecting B.anthracis and other members of the B.cereus group will enable use to determine the environmental conditions under which gene transfer occurs Detection of Anthrax Given the threat posed by B. anthracis in the context of Bioterrorism there is an urgent need to develop detection assays capable of detecting spores in the environment and diagnosing infection. An ideal assay would be highly specific, could be used with minimal sample preparation and little if any support equipment, give rapid results in <60 sec, be highly stable at room temperature and could be used repeatedly. In collaboration with colleagues in the department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland in Baltimore we are working to develop thermal stable single chain antibodies from sharks for the detection of anthrax spores and toxin. Shark produced antibodies have been shown to maintain there antibody binding capacity following prolonged heat treatment thus raising the possibility of developing extremely stable assays (Stanfield et al., 2004). In collaboration with Dr Chris Geddes, a fellow faculty member at MBC we are also developing assays based on metal enhanced flourescence which can detect nanogram levels of anthrax biomarkers in human blood in as little as 30 seconds. Pathogenecity of Anthrax I have a particular interest in understanding the cellular event following the infection of macrophages by B.anthracis spores. My recent data suggests that even though the spore triggers a number of pathogen pattern recognition receptors, it is still able to ameliorate antibacterial killing mechanisms such as nitric oxide. Following successful intracellular germination the organism expresses a complex network of virulence factors which enable it to escape from the cell. I have a long term interest in understanding the mechanisms which regulate in vivo virulence factor expression and am currently investigating the role of the inducible PlcR virulence regulon with leading US and Russian researchers based at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

近期论文

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Cooper, C.et al. 2016. Virulence plasmid stability in environmentally occurring Bacillus anthracis from North East Turkey. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (10.1007/s10482-016-0767-5) pdf Dyer, P.et al. 2016. An in vitro evaluation of epigallocatechin gallate (eGCG) as a biocompatible inhibitor of ricin toxin. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects 1860(7), pp. 1541-1550. (10.1016/j.bbagen.2016.03.024) pdf Eissa, A.et al. 2016. Targeting methionyl tRNA synthetase: design, synthesis and antibacterial activity against Clostridium difficileof novel 3-biaryl-N-benzylpropan-1-amine derivatives. Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry (10.3109/14756366.2016.1140754) pdf Celebi, O.et al. 2016. The use of germinants to potentiate the sensitivity of Bacillus anthracis spores to peracetic acid. Frontiers in Microbiology 7, article number: 18. (10.3389/fmicb.2016.00018) pdf Ascough, S.et al. 2016. CD4+ T cells targeting dominant and cryptic epitopes from Bacillus anthracis lethal factor. Frontiers in Microbiology 6, article number: 1506. (10.3389/fmicb.2015.01506) pdf Dyer, P.et al. 2015. Disarmed anthrax toxin delivers antisense oligonucleotides and siRNA with high efficiency and low toxicity. Journal of Controlled Release 220(A), pp. 316-328. (10.1016/j.jconrel.2015.10.054) pdf Hawkins, J.et al. 2015. Using DNA metabarcoding to identify the floral composition of honey: a new tool for investigating honey bee foraging preferences. PLoS ONE 10(8), article number: e0134735. (10.1371/journal.pone.0134735) pdf Buyuk, F.et al. 2015. The effect of prolonged storage on the virulence of isolates of Bacillus anthracis obtained from environmental and animal sources in the Kars Region of Turkey. FEMS Microbiology Letters 362(13), article number: fnv102. (10.1093/femsle/fnv102) pdf Köhler, S. M., Baillie, L. and Beyer, W. 2015. BclA and toxin antigens augment each other to protect NMRI mice from lethal Bacillus anthracis challenge. Vaccine 33(24), pp. 2771-2777. (10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.049) pdf Ingavle, G.et al. 2015. Affinity binding of antibodies to supermacroporous cryogel adsorbents with immobilized protein A for removal of anthrax toxin protective antigen. Biomaterials 50, pp. 140-153. (10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.01.039) pdf