Prof. Ramesh Wigneshweraraj s.r.wig@imperial.ac.uk Head of Section – Microbiology Director of PhD Training (CMBI) s.r.wig@imperial.ac.uk

CMBI

Our Mission Uniquely focused on research and training in molecular mechanisms underpinning bacterial infection biology and bacterial resistance to antibiotics

Our Research Themes Bacterial physiology and pathogenesis Antibiotic resistance and persistence Microbiota Host innate immunity

Our Research Topics Characterization of disulfide bond formation in bacterial pathogens Cell wall assembly and nucleotide signaling in Gram-positive bacterial pathogens Innate immune responses to commensal and pathogenic bacteria Common infection strategies between intracellular and  extracellular pathogens Staphylococcal persistence in host tissues Meningococcal genomics/Type IV pilus biology Systems microbiology and the biology of tuberculosis E. coli and Legionella pathogenesis Clostridial pathogens Salmonella pathogenesis Pseudomonas pathogenesis Intracellular host defense how does host genotype affect the biology of bacterial infection? Gene regulation in bacterial pathogenesis Structural studies of bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation

Our Pathogens Citrobacter rodentium Clostridium difficile Escherichia coli Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca Legionella pneumophila Listeria monocytogenes Mycobacterium tuberculosis Neisseria meningitidis Pseudomonas aeruginosa Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Typhi Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri Staphylococcus aureus Streptococcus pneumoniae ….and many more !

Our Approach ‘communities’ ‘single cell’ ‘single molecule’

Our Philosophy Internal Centers of Excellence Imperial College e.g. Centre for Structural Biology Imperial College Hospitals External Centers of Excellence e.g. Sanger Institute, Crick Institute, Indian Institute of Science, IMIB (Germany) Industry

Training Vision Centre of Excellence in PhD-level training in bacterial infection biology Contribute to delivery of the next-generation of high-calibre PhD-trained young academic and clinical researchers in bacterial infection biology Use training mission to provide added-value to the CMBI to catalyse new collaborations: - between CMBI members - with clinicians - with other Centres of Excellence within and outside IC - with industry for translational research

Clinical Research Training Fellowships PhD Training 2017-2022 Clinical Research Training Fellowships 4 CRTF available to start immediately Embedded into CATO (Clinical Academic Training Office) support, mentorship, genetic skills, networks, cohort identity All CMBI CRTFs will have a clinician as 2nd supervisor Candidate-driven project allocation (preferred route) Induction training

Our statistics 19 independent group leaders 5 independent research fellows (incl. 1 ARC Fellow) 41 Post-doctoral staff >50 PhD students (3 CRTFs) £16.5M income from competitive grant funding (past 5 years; initial investment: £3.3M) 286 Publications (past 5 years)