Microbial Therapeutics and Infection Control Centre

External relationships

The Centre's staff have a long history of working closely with industry and academia on a wide range of issues. Members of the Centre have received funding from EPSRC, bbsrc and Innovate UK and a wide range of industrial collaborators.

The Centre works with research partners from across the globe including scientists in Spain, Italy, the Republic of Ireland, Argentina and Germany.

The Centre is always open to new opportunities and research collaborations that fall within its remit.

Facilities

The centre has at its disposal a state of art, fully integrated cell biology, microbiology, bioprocessing and analytical pipeline for the characterisation and development of probiotic, microbial therapeutic and infection control technologies. This includes:

• human tissue culture focussed on skin and GI tract (e.g. Caco-2) cell lines,
• microbial, isolation, fermentation and characterisation capabilities which includes extensive anaerobic facilities to culture bacteria such as Bifidobacterium sp.
• A characterisation pipeline for bacterial EPS which includes extraction, purification and characterisation employing HPAEC, GC-MS and NMR.
• High through put screening technology for antimicrobial compounds.
• An extensive microbial pathogen library for panel testing.
• Established testing protocols for biocides, wound dressings and antiseptics.

Impact

The Centre and its staff have an established track record of applying academic excellence to industrial needs. Having assisted both large multinationals and SME’s to take products to market, improve product development and to better understand their bioprocessing and analytical needs.

The aim of the Centre is to provide a fundamental technical underpinning for microbial therapeutic and infection control products and technologies.