Exhaled microbes and their detection by facemask sampling

Prof M Barer, Dr Natalie Garton

Applications accepted all year round

Self-Funded PhD Students Only

About the Project

We all breathe out numerous microbes, even when we are sleeping. Our group knows this through our work on facemask sampling (FMS).

While respiratory output of microbes is essential to the spread of diseases such as COVID-19 and TB, we also know that many other organisms, both pathogenic and no-pathogenic, are exhaled. Surprisingly, coughing and sneezing are not needed for this and we estimate that around a thousand bacteria are expelled per minute. We need to understand the significance of this phenomenon for both health and disease. We also need to maximise the efficiency of our sampling system for use in different applications.

FMS is a very simple procedure well-accepted by healthy and unwell people alike. We have opportunities in projects concerned with understanding the output and transmission of medically significant bacteria, viruses and fungi, including drug resistant organisms. We also have a wider interest in the exhaled microbiome and the host factors that influence this. More recently we have begun to look at immune response mediators in our samples. While we generally use PCR and sequencing-based analyses, we have experience with immunoassays and analytical chemistry.

Focusing on the technology used in FMS, we are concerned to understand the factors affecting capture of microbes in our system. These include control of the internal environment in masks, the surface and electrostatic properties of the matrix we use for microbial capture and the efficiency with which we can analyse all the microbes present.

We are looking for creative candidates who think beyond conventional discipline boundaries. Training will be provided in all the areas indicated but, where necessary may, include microscopy, bacterial and respiratory physiology and epidemiology.

Our work is suitable for students with a background in biological or medical sciences but there are strong themes suitable for chemists or engineers to consider. Additional supervisors are available in these areas.

We will work with suitable candidates to develop a specific project and hypotheses most suited to our mutual interests.

Outputs: As illustrated below, we publish regularly in high impact journals and our students* make essential contributions to these outputs.

Apply at:

https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/research-subjects/respiratory-sciences

PhD entry requirements:https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/entry-reqs

Supervisor contact details:

Prof Mike Barer, mrb19@le.ac.uk

Dr Natalie Garton, njg17@leicester.ac.uk

Dr Leah Cuthbertson, lfc11@leicester.ac.uk