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Professor Brendan Wren

FRCPath

Professor
of Microbial Pathogenesis

Room
Room 305b

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

Tel.
+44 (0) 20 7927 2288

Brendan Wren's research interests predominantly involve determining the genetic basis by which bacterial pathogens cause disease. His research group exploits a range of post genome research strategies to gain a comprehensive understanding of how these pathogens function, how they evolve and how they interact with their respective hosts.

A core interest includes studying glycosylation and glycostructures and how this relates to the survival and virulence of bacterial pathogens. An application of this basic research is the development of Protein Glycan Coupling Technology and other glycobiotechnological innovations for the production of recombinant glycoproteins. This has been applied for the development of inexpensive glycoconjugate vaccines for human and veterinary use.

Affiliations

Department of Infection Biology
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Centres

Vaccine Centre
Antimicrobial Resistance Centre (AMR)

Teaching

Brendan Wren is a member of the board of examiners for the MSc in Medical Microbiology (MM) and also lectures and examines on this course.

Research

Current research focuses on:

  • Bacterial glycosylation and their role in virulence
  • Exploitation of bacterial glycosylation systems for glycoengineering towards novel antibiotic and vaccine design
  • Comparative phylogenomics and the evolution of bacterial virulence

Research on individual pathogens include; Clostridium difficileCampylobacter jejuniHelicobacter pyloriBurkholderia pseudomallei, Acinetobacter baumanniiFrancisella tularensisStreptococcus pneumonia, Streptococcus suis, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Vibrio cholerae and the enteropathogenic Yersinia.

Campylobacter Resource Facility link.

Research Area
Bacteria
Vaccines
Discipline
Genomics
Bacteriology
Genetics
Microbiology
Molecular biology
Vaccinology
Disease and Health Conditions
Diarrhoeal diseases
Infectious disease
Melioidosis
Respiratory disease
Zoonotic disease
Country
Australia
Canada
The Gambia
Thailand
Tanzania
Vietnam
Zambia
Region
East Asia & Pacific (developing only)
Europe & Central Asia (all income levels)
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)

Selected Publications

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
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
2019
NATURE GENETICS
Para-cresol production by Clostridium difficile affects microbial diversity and membrane integrity of Gram-negative bacteria.
Passmore IJ; Letertre MPM; Preston MD; Bianconi I; Harrison MA; Nasher F; Kaur H; Hong HA; Baines SD; Cutting SM
2018
PLoS pathogens
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
The N-linking glycosylation system from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is required for adhesion and has potential use in glycoengineering.
Cuccui J; Terra VS; Bossé JT; Naegeli A; Abouelhadid S; Li Y; Lin C-W; Vohra P; Tucker AW; Rycroft AN
2017
Open biology
Parallel independent evolution of pathogenicity within the genus Yersinia.
Reuter S; Connor TR; Barquist L; Walker D; Feltwell T; Harris SR; Fookes M; Hall ME; Petty NK; Fuchs TM
2014
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Exploitation of bacterial N-linked glycosylation to develop a novel recombinant glycoconjugate vaccine against Francisella tularensis.
Cuccui J; Thomas RM; Moule MG; D'Elia RV; Laws TR; Mills DC; Williamson D; Atkins TP; Prior JL; Wren BW
2013
Open biology
Bacterial pathogenomics.
Pallen MJ; Wren BW
2007
Nature
See more Publications