I’ve been a Group Leader at Quadram since 2015 and I’m also a Wellcome Investigator. I am also Chair of Microbiome Research, Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham. Our teams’ research focus involves defining microbe/microbiota interactions during the early life developmental window.

I obtained a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Glasgow, a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Cambridge (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute), and was a postdoctoral fellow at University College Cork, Ireland (APC Microbiome Institute). I returned to the UK to take up a Senior Lectureship at the University of East Anglia before my move to Quadram.

Key publications

Alcon-Giner C, Dalby MJ, Caim S, Ketskemety J, Shaw A, Sim K, Lawson M, Kiu R, Leclaire C, Chalklen L, Kujawska M, Mitra D, Fardus-Reid F, Belteki, G, McColl K, Swann JR, Kroll JS, Clarke P, Hall LJ.: “Microbiota supplementation with Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus modifies the preterm infant gut microbiota and metabolome: an observational study”. Cell Reports Medicine. 2020.

Lawson MAE/O’Neill IJ, Kujawska M, Wijeyesekera A, Flegg Z, Chalklen L, Hall LJ.: “Breast-milk derived human milk oligosaccharides promote Bifidobacterium interactions within a single ecosystem”. ISME J. 2020; 14(2):635-648.

Alcon-Giner C/Leggett RM, Heavens D, Caim S, Brook TC, Kujawska M, Hoyles L, Clarke P, Clark MD/Hall LJ.: “Rapid MinION profiling of preterm microbiota and antimicrobial resistant pathogens”. Nature Microbiology. 2019.

Hughes KR, Harnisch L, Alcon-Giner C, Mitra S, Wright CJ, Ketskemety J, van Sinderen D, Watson AJM, and Hall LJ.:”Bifidobacterium breve reduces apoptotic epithelial cell shedding in an exopolysaccharide and MyD88-dependent manner”. Open Biology. 2017; doi.org/10.1098/rsob.160155.

Hall LJ/Fanning S, Cronin M, Zomer A, MacSharry J, Goulding D, O’Connell-Motherway M, Shanahan F, Nally K, Dougan G, van Sinderen D.: “Bifidobacterial surface-exopolysaccharide facilitates commensal-host interaction through immune modulation & pathogen protection”. PNAS. 2012; 109(6):2108-13.