Isolation and Characterisation of Bacteriophages with Activity against Invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonella Causing Bloodstream Infection in Malawi

EVR is a first year PhD student within NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections. EVR graduated with a first class in Biological Sciences BSc(Hons) in 2018 and then with a merit in Advanced Biological Sciences Master of Research in 2019. EVR’s research interests have always surrounded gastrointestinal infections and infectious diseases, with current research also involving genomics and metagenomics. EVR has been a member of the Microbiology Society since 2016 and was awarded a Harry Smith Vacation Studentship in 2017.

Blanca M. Perez-Sepulveda, Ph.D., is a molecular microbiologist working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate on invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS). After completing an M.Sc. (Res) in biochemistry at the University of Chile, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Warwick studying the molecular mechanisms of phage resistance of marine Synechococcus. She moved to the University of Liverpool in 2016 to join Jay Hinton’s laboratory, where she currently focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of virulence and environmental reservoirs of invasive Salmonella Enteritidis & their phages identified in sub-Saharan African regions, using a combination of phenotypic characterisation, comparative genomics, and transcriptomics. In collaboration with the Earlham Institute, she has been leading the 10,000 Salmonella Genomes project, a worldwide collaborative effort to understand the transmission and virulence of iNTS. She is a member of the Microbiology Society, ISVM, ASM, and SfAM.