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Prof Brendan Wren

Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis

United Kingdom

Tel.
02079272288

Brendan runs both a basic research group in bacterial pathogenesis and applied research group developing glycoconjugate vaccines against many infectious agents. Pathogenesis studies focus on the role of glycostructures in bacterial disease. These fundamental studies led to the discovery of novel protein-glycan coupling enzymes and the emergence of glycoengineering in bacterial cells. The most advanced application of glycoengineering is the vaccine technology platform Bioconjugation, that is widely applied with several vaccines in clinical trials.

Brendan is a pioneer in genome sequencing and co-led the Campylobacter jejuni, Yersinia pestis, Yersinia enterocolitica, Francisella tularensis and Clostridium difficile genome projects. Post genome research strategies are used to gain a comprehensive understanding of how bacteria function, interact with their respective hosts and cause disease.

Originally, Brendan studied for a PhD in Physical Chemistry at Leicester University and published seminal papers on radical cations and the effect of ionizing radiation on DNA. He then took a position in Medical Microbiology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital prior to joining LSHTM.

At the LSHTM Brendan has served as Head of Department, Research Degrees Director, and Dean of Faculty. He is currently Co-director of the LSHTM Vaccine Centre.

Affiliations

Department of Infection Biology
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Centres

Centre for Epidemic Preparedness and Response
Vaccine Centre
Antimicrobial Resistance Centre

Teaching

Brendan teaches on the LSHTM Medical Microbiology MSc in areas relating to bacterial pathogenesis and genomics. He also delivers lectures on translational microbiology and vaccinology at Imperial College.

Research

Brendan’s research is divided between studying the glycobiology of selected pathogens with applications in glycoconjugate vaccine design and the use of genome sequence data to understand bacterial transmission, evolution and virulence.

The group has used Protein Glycan Coupling Technology (Bioconjugation) to produce novel Shigella, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A Strep, Group B Strep, Brucella, and Francisella glycoconjugate vaccines as well as several animal vaccines. The custom-made vaccines produced by this process are effective, pure, and less expensive than conventional glycoconjugate vaccines. Recently the group has used synthetic biology approaches (eg refactoring, and combinatorial design) to characterise and efficiently express glycans in bacterial cells. This technology complements Bioconjugation, further reducing the cost of vaccines.

Brendan is a co-applicant on two vaccine manufacture hubs (VaxHub sustainable and VaxHub global), where Bioconjugate vaccines are being scaled up towards GMP and clinical trials. Brendan is co-founder of ArkVax a LSHTM spin-out company that exploits Bioconjugation for the development of animal vaccines. Beyond vaccines, advances in bacterial glycoengineering will benefit basic research and the production of therapeutics that require specific glycosylation.

Research Area
Genetics
Microbiology
Bacteria
Immunology
Vaccinology
Disease and Health Conditions
Infectious diseases
Pneumonia
Meningitis
Diarrhoeal diseases
Plague
Country
Gambia
Senegal
Thailand
India
Pakistan
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)
South Asia

Selected Publications

Development of a novel glycoengineering platform for the rapid production of conjugate vaccines.
ABOUELHADID, S; Atkins, ER; Kay, EJ; PASSMORE, IJ; North, SJ; Lehri, B; Hitchen, P; Bakke, E; Rahman, M; Bossé, JT; Li, Y; TERRA, VS; Langford, PR; Dell, A; WREN, BW; CUCCUI, J;
2023
Microbial cell factories
A combinatorial DNA assembly approach to biosynthesis of N-linked glycans in E. coli.
PASSMORE, IJ; Faulds-Pain, A; ABOUELHADID, S; HARRISON, MA; HALL, CL; Hitchen, P; Dell, A; Heap, JT; WREN, BW;
2023
Glycobiology
Engineering a suite of E. coli strains for enhanced expression of bacterial polysaccharides and glycoconjugate vaccines.
KAY, EJ; MAURI, M; WILLCOCKS, SJ; SCOTT, TA; CUCCUI, J; WREN, BW;
2022
MICROBIAL CELL FACTORIES
Development of an automated platform for the optimal production of glycoconjugate vaccines expressed in Escherichia coli.
Samaras, JJ; MAURI, M; KAY, EJ; WREN, BW; Micheletti, M;
2021
Microbial cell factories
Adaptation of host transmission cycle during Clostridium difficile speciation.
Kumar, N; Browne, HP; Viciani, E; Forster, SC; Clare, S; Harcourt, K; Stares, MD; Dougan, G; Fairley, DJ; Roberts, P; Pirmohamed, M; Clokie, MR J; Jensen, MB F; Hargreaves, KR; Ip, M; Wieler, LH; Seyboldt, C; Norén, T; Riley, TV; Kuijper, EJ; WREN, BW; Lawley, TD;
2019
NATURE GENETICS
Quantitative Analyses Reveal Novel Roles for N-Glycosylation in a Major Enteric Bacterial Pathogen.
ABOUELHADID, S; North, SJ; Hitchen, P; Vohra, P; Chintoan-Uta, C; Stevens, M; Dell, A; CUCCUI, J; WREN, BW;
2019
mBio
A recombinant conjugated pneumococcal vaccine that protects against murine infections with a similar efficacy to Prevnar-13.
Reglinski, M; Ercoli, G; Plumptre, C; KAY, E; Petersen, FC; Paton, JC; WREN, BW; Brown, JS;
2018
NPJ vaccines
Para-cresol production by Clostridium difficile affects microbial diversity and membrane integrity of Gram-negative bacteria.
PASSMORE, IJ; Letertre, MP M; Preston, MD; Bianconi, I; HARRISON, MA; NASHER, F; KAUR, H; Hong, HA; Baines, SD; Cutting, SM; Swann, JR; WREN, BW; DAWSON, LF;
2018
PLoS pathogens
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