Prof. John Wain

Group Leader

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Bacterial diversity and tropical infections

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Developing new technology to improve health care everywhere.

My career to date has alternated between service and academic microbiology in the UK, Nigeria and Vietnam. My current post, group leader at the Quadram Institute is focused on translational research on Microbes in the Food Chain.

I have a keen interest in the use of new technology in countries with developing economies.

In the past I have: designed and delivered a teaching programme for public health and clinical microbiology in Nigeria; setup microbiology research in Vietnam; established and run a research group at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute; and directed for three years the HPA’s Gastrointestinal Reference Laboratory at Colindale (now Public Health England’s GBRU).

My research has described the influence on treatment outcome of reduced susceptibility to fluoroqinolones; linked antibiotic resistance and virulence in Salmonella; paved the way for the first Salmonella to be genome sequenced; produced high throughput genetic techniques for typing Salmonella (MLST); generated genomic methods for screening gene function and regulation in host adapted bacterial pathogens (TraDIS); and defined the parameters for the routine use of whole genome sequencing in public health microbiology.

Hurst R, Brewer DS, Gihawi A, Wain J, Cooper CS. (2024)

Cancer invasion and anaerobic bacteria: new insights into mechanisms.

Journal of medical microbiology


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Mattock J, Chattaway MA, Hartman H, Dallman TJ, Smith AM, Keddy K, Petrovska L, Manners EJ, Duze ST, Smouse S, Tau N, Timme R, Baker DJ, Mather AE, Wain J, Langridge GC. (2024)

A One Health Perspective on Salmonella enterica Serovar Infantis, an Emerging Human Multidrug-Resistant Pathogen.

Emerging infectious diseases, 30, 701-710


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Crossman LC, Sims L, Dean R, Felgate H, Diaz-Calvo T, Hill C, McNamara I, Webber MA, Wain J. (2024)

Sticking together: independent evolution of biofilm formation in different species of staphylococci has occurred multiple times via different pathways

BMC Genomics, 25, 812


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Djeghout B, Le Viet T, De Oliveira Martins L, Savva MS, Evans R, Baker D, Page A, Elumogo N, Wain J, Janecko N. (2024)

Capturing clinically relevant Campylobacter attributes through direct whole genome sequencing of stool

Microbiol Genomics


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Dziegiel AH, Bloomfield SJ, Savva GM, Palau R, Janecko N, Wain J, Mather AE. (2024)

High Campylobacter diversity in retail chicken epidemiologically important strains may be missed with current sampling methods

Epidemiology and Infection


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