Rob Kingsley

I am a Group Leader at the Institute, overseeing a research programme that combines bioinformatics, genomics, molecular microbiology and models of infection to investigate the evolution of interactions between pathogens, the environment and the host. Much of my early career was focused on investigation of iron metabolism in bacterial pathogens, and later on molecular mechanisms by which they colonise the host and cause disease.

I have always been interested in using information about the naturally occurring variation in the genetic makeup of bacterial pathogens in order to infer function and evolutionary history of colonization and virulence factors. This led to the discovery of intestinal colonisation and persistence mechanisms specific to subtypes of Salmonella that account for the vast majority of human disease, likely because they enabled expansion in host range to include domesticated animals that form the zoonotic reservoir of this pathogen.

Around the year 2005, next generation sequencing changed the potential of whole genome sequencing of bacteria to enable discrimination of genetic variants of bacterial pathogens with exquisite resolution. My interest therefore moved to the use of this technology to investigate variation on a whole genome level, and in particular, closely related variants that exhibit differences in host range, pathogenicity and risk to food safety.

I now use these approaches to understand how new pathogens emerge and evolve, how epidemics spread, and how we can use this information to improve surveillance and risk assessment of foodborne pathogens.