Dr Justine Rudkin
- Lecturer in Bacteriology (Bacteriology)
email:
Justine.Rudkin@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
She/her/hers
Sir Graeme Davies Building, 126 University Place, Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, G12 8TA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3044-0459Biography
Education:
BSc Tropical Disease Biology, University of Liverpool, 2008
PhD Molecular Microbiology, University of Bath, 2012
PGCert Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, UCC, 2018
Career History:
Lecturer in Bacteriology, University of Glasgow, 2024-present
Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford, 2018-2023
IRC Research Fellow, University College Cork, 2016-2018
Postdoctoral Researcher, APC Microbiome Institute Ireland, 2016
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Galway, 2012-2015
Publications:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3044-0459
Professional Activities:
Editor, Access Microbiology, an Open Research Platform
Committee Member, Impact & Influence Committee, Microbiology Society UK
Research interests
A Bacterium of Two Halves; The Commensal and Pathogenic Lifestyle of Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal microbe colonising the nose of some healthy individuals, but it is also an important and potentially lethal pathogen. Within the nose S. aureus colonises as part of the microbiome and my research group is interested in interactions between S. aureus and the other microbes in the nasal niche. We are interested in how microbe-microbe interactions influence colonisation at the host-microbe interface, and how interactions between S. aureus and other skin and respiratory pathogens impacts on virulence and the onset of infection. Are there any other species that help S. aureus to colonise, or indeed any that block it from becoming a resident? What mechanisms underpin these interactions, and can we use this information to modulate the emergence of infections?
My group utilizes a combination of co-culture assays, functional genomics and phenotyping, alongside community analysis (DNA and RNASeq) approaches to investigate how this bacterium adapts to these two different lifestyles, and how conditions within these different niche drive bacterial evolution and pathogenicity.
We are open to collaboration with other teams working on the nasal niche who have an interest in microbe-microbe or host-pathogen interactions, as well as people with an interest in other skin or respiratory infections (bacterial, viral, fungal, phage).
Supervision
Open to Undergraduate Students who wish apply for the Microbiology Society Vacation Studentship to spend a summer gaining research experience
