Honorary Faculty - Professor Sharon Peacock

Professor Sharon Peacock has collaborated with teams at the Sanger Institute since 2003, initially on the Burkholderia pseudomallei and Staphylococcus aureus genome projects, and more recently on the application of expression arrays to the study of melioidosis, genome variation, molecular epidemiology and the clinical application of whole genome sequence typing. She works most closely with Matt Holden, Stephen Bentley and Julian Parkhill (Pathogen Sequencing) and Gordon Dougan (Microbial Pathogenesis).

Sharon graduated in Medicine at Southampton University in 1988. She obtained MRCP during 4 years of post-graduate training in general internal medicine in London, Brighton and Oxford. This was followed by training in clinical microbiology in Oxford, leading to MRCPath in 1997. She was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship in Microbiology in 1995 to work on host-cell interactions of Staphylococcus aureus, which led to a PhD. She worked as a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Oxford between 1998 and 2002, leaving to take up a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award for work conducted in Thailand where she remained until 2009. She became Professor of Clinical Microbiology, University of Cambridge on returning to the UK in 2009 and has Honorary Consultant appointments with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Health Protection Agency. She maintains a research programme in Thailand on the molecular epidemiology of Leptospira spp., the mechanisms by which people become infected with B. pseudomallei and how this can be prevented, and immunological aspects of melioidosis. This is combined with a UK research programme focused on nosocomial pathogens, with particular emphasis on the clinical utility of cutting edge sequencing technology.

Selected Publications

• A Burkholderia pseudomallei protein microarray reveals serodiagnostic and cross-reactive antigens.

  Felgner PL, Kayala MA, Vigil A, Burk C, Nakajima-Sasaki R, Pablo J, Molina DM, Hirst S, Chew JS, Wang D, Tan G, Duffield M, Yang R, Neel J, Chantratita N, Bancroft G, Lertmemongkolchai G, Davies DH, Baldi P, Peacock S and Titball RW

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2009;106;32;13499-504

  PUBMED: 19666533; PMC: 2717108; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0812080106

• Factors predicting and reducing mortality in patients with invasive Staphylococcus aureus disease in a developing country.

  Nickerson EK, Wuthiekanun V, Wongsuvan G, Limmathurosakul D, Srisamang P, Mahavanakul W, Thaipadungpanit J, Shah KR, Arayawichanont A, Amornchai P, Thanwisai A, Day NP and Peacock SJ

  PloS one 2009;4;8;e6512

  PUBMED: 19652705; PMC: 2714962; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006512

• Genetic diversity and microevolution of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the environment.

  Chantratita N, Wuthiekanun V, Limmathurotsakul D, Vesaratchavest M, Thanwisai A, Amornchai P, Tumapa S, Feil EJ, Day NP and Peacock SJ

  PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2008;2;2;e182

  PUBMED: 18299706; PMC: 2254201; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000182

• A dominant clone of Leptospira interrogans associated with an outbreak of human leptospirosis in Thailand.

  Thaipadungpanit J, Wuthiekanun V, Chierakul W, Smythe LD, Petkanchanapong W, Limpaiboon R, Apiwatanaporn A, Slack AT, Suputtamongkol Y, White NJ, Feil EJ, Day NP and Peacock SJ

  PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2007;1;1;e56

  PUBMED: 17989782; PMC: 2041815; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000056

• Nonrandom distribution of Burkholderia pseudomallei clones in relation to geographical location and virulence.

  Vesaratchavest M, Tumapa S, Day NP, Wuthiekanun V, Chierakul W, Holden MT, White NJ, Currie BJ, Spratt BG, Feil EJ and Peacock SJ

  Journal of clinical microbiology 2006;44;7;2553-7

  PUBMED: 16825379; PMC: 1489466; DOI: 10.1128/JCM.00629-06

• Genomic plasticity of the causative agent of melioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei.

  Holden MT, Titball RW, Peacock SJ, Cerdeño-Tárraga AM, Atkins T, Crossman LC, Pitt T, Churcher C, Mungall K, Bentley SD, Sebaihia M, Thomson NR, Bason N, Beacham IR, Brooks K, Brown KA, Brown NF, Challis GL, Cherevach I, Chillingworth T, Cronin A, Crossett B, Davis P, DeShazer D, Feltwell T, Fraser A, Hance Z, Hauser H, Holroyd S, Jagels K, Keith KE, Maddison M, Moule S, Price C, Quail MA, Rabbinowitsch E, Rutherford K, Sanders M, Simmonds M, Songsivilai S, Stevens K, Tumapa S, Vesaratchavest M, Whitehead S, Yeats C, Barrell BG, Oyston PC and Parkhill J

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2004;101;39;14240-5

  PUBMED: 15377794; PMC: 521101; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0403302101

Related links

• Global health research