Professor Gordon Dougan

Professor Gordon Dougan is the Board of Management representative for the area of Pathogens and Head of the Microbial Pathogenesis group working on the genomics of host/pathogen interactions. He has a particular interest in the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, the cause of typhoid. As well as focusing on Gordon's research interests, the Microbial Pathogenesis group provides significant support to other Sanger Institute teams including the Mouse Genetics Project.

During his career Gordon has pioneered work on enteric diseases and has been heavily involved in the movement to improve vaccine usage in developing countries. In this regard, he was recently voted as one of the top ten most influential people in the vaccine world by people working in the area. During his career Gordon has participated in early and late clinical studies on several vaccines and is an expert in vaccinology; specialising in the immunology of mucosal vaccines and vaccine design. Gordon is the Chair of the Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Scientific Advisory Board and has spun out a number of companies.

Throughout his career Gordon has served as a referee, advisor and consultant for numerous institutions, universities, boards, committees and other organizations. He was a Trustee of the International Vaccine Institute in Korea and has worked with other global agencies including The World Health Organisation and the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Innovations. Gordon was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2002, is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012. Gordon is also an Honorary Professor at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Gordon graduated with a degree in Biochemistry and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex. He conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington (Seattle) in the laboratory of Professor Stanley Falkow. Gordon was a lecturer in the Moyne Institute in Trinity College Dublin and then worked for over ten years in industry developing vaccines and novel drugs at The Wellcome Foundation (now GSK). In 1992 he left industry to become Professor of Physiological Biochemistry at the Imperial College London. While at Imperial Gordon became the first Director of the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection and was responsible for securing multi-million pound funding for a new building in Kensington and providing infrastructure for the science.

Selected Publications

• Intracontinental spread of human invasive Salmonella Typhimurium pathovariants in sub-Saharan Africa.

  Okoro CK, Kingsley RA, Connor TR, Harris SR, Parry CM, Al-Mashhadani MN, Kariuki S, Msefula CL, Gordon MA, de Pinna E, Wain J, Heyderman RS, Obaro S, Alonso PL, Mandomando I, MacLennan CA, Tapia MD, Levine MM, Tennant SM, Parkhill J and Dougan G

  Nature genetics 2012;44;11;1215-21

  PUBMED: 23023330; PMC: 3491877; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2423

• IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza.

  Everitt AR, Clare S, Pertel T, John SP, Wash RS, Smith SE, Chin CR, Feeley EM, Sims JS, Adams DJ, Wise HM, Kane L, Goulding D, Digard P, Anttila V, Baillie JK, Walsh TS, Hume DA, Palotie A, Xue Y, Colonna V, Tyler-Smith C, Dunning J, Gordon SB, GenISIS Investigators, MOSAIC Investigators, Smyth RL, Openshaw PJ, Dougan G, Brass AL and Kellam P

  Nature 2012;484;7395;519-23

  PUBMED: 22446628; PMC: 3648786; DOI: 10.1038/nature10921

• Targeted restoration of the intestinal microbiota with a simple, defined bacteriotherapy resolves relapsing Clostridium difficile disease in mice.

  Lawley TD, Clare S, Walker AW, Stares MD, Connor TR, Raisen C, Goulding D, Rad R, Schreiber F, Brandt C, Deakin LJ, Pickard DJ, Duncan SH, Flint HJ, Clark TG, Parkhill J and Dougan G

  PLoS pathogens 2012;8;10;e1002995

  PUBMED: 23133377; PMC: 3486913; DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002995

• Evidence for several waves of global transmission in the seventh cholera pandemic.

  Mutreja A, Kim DW, Thomson NR, Connor TR, Lee JH, Kariuki S, Croucher NJ, Choi SY, Harris SR, Lebens M, Niyogi SK, Kim EJ, Ramamurthy T, Chun J, Wood JL, Clemens JD, Czerkinsky C, Nair GB, Holmgren J, Parkhill J and Dougan G

  Nature 2011;477;7365;462-5

  PUBMED: 21866102; PMC: 3736323; DOI: 10.1038/nature10392

• The neglected role of antibody in protection against bacteremia caused by nontyphoidal strains of Salmonella in African children.

  MacLennan CA, Gondwe EN, Msefula CL, Kingsley RA, Thomson NR, White SA, Goodall M, Pickard DJ, Graham SM, Dougan G, Hart CA, Molyneux ME and Drayson MT

  The Journal of clinical investigation 2008;118;4;1553-62

  PUBMED: 18357343; PMC: 2268878; DOI: 10.1172/JCI33998

• A linear plasmid truncation induces unidirectional flagellar phase change in H:z66 positive Salmonella Typhi.

  Baker S, Holt K, Whitehead S, Goodhead I, Perkins T, Stocker B, Hardy J and Dougan G

  Molecular microbiology 2007;66;5;1207-18

  PUBMED: 17976161; PMC: 2652032; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.05995.x

• Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium exploits inflammation to compete with the intestinal microbiota.

  Stecher B, Robbiani R, Walker AW, Westendorf AM, Barthel M, Kremer M, Chaffron S, Macpherson AJ, Buer J, Parkhill J, Dougan G, von Mering C and Hardt WD

  PLoS biology 2007;5;10;2177-89

  PUBMED: 17760501; PMC: 1951780; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050244

• Requirement of bic/microRNA-155 for normal immune function.

  Rodriguez A, Vigorito E, Clare S, Warren MV, Couttet P, Soond DR, van Dongen S, Grocock RJ, Das PP, Miska EA, Vetrie D, Okkenhaug K, Enright AJ, Dougan G, Turner M and Bradley A

  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2007;316;5824;608-11

  PUBMED: 17463290; PMC: 2610435; DOI: 10.1126/science.1139253

Related links

• Helminth genomes
• Global health research