Dr Trevor Lawley

Trevor's research uses high-throughput genome sequencing to investigate the bacterial populations and microbial communities that are associated with health and disease, and murine infection models and clinical samples to identify the pathogen and host factors that are linked to disease and infectivity.

Trevor obtained his PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada, where he studied the mechanisms that pathogenic bacteria use to disseminate antibiotic resistance genes. Dr Diane Taylor and Dr Laura Frost were his supervisors. His PhD thesis culminated in 2004 with him receiving the "Gold Award" (Graduate Student of the Year) from the Canadian Society of Microbiologists.

After his PhD Trevor was awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research post-doctoral fellowship to work in the Laboratory of Professor Stanley Falkow and Dr Denise Monack at Stanford University, USA, where he studied the impact of antibiotic treatment on Salmonella disease and transmission. In 2007 Trevor received a Royal Society of London Award - sponsored by Professor Gordon Dougan - to start a research programme on Clostridium difficile disease and transmission within the Microbial Pathogenesis group at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

In 2010, Trevor was appointed as a Sanger Institute Faculty. He receives funding from the Medical Research Council.

Selected Publications

• Emergence and global spread of epidemic healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile.

  He M, Miyajima F, Roberts P, Ellison L, Pickard DJ, Martin MJ, Connor TR, Harris SR, Fairley D, Bamford KB, D'Arc S, Brazier J, Brown D, Coia JE, Douce G, Gerding D, Kim HJ, Koh TH, Kato H, Senoh M, Louie T, Michell S, Butt E, Peacock SJ, Brown NM, Riley T, Songer G, Wilcox M, Pirmohamed M, Kuijper E, Hawkey P, Wren BW, Dougan G, Parkhill J and Lawley TD

  Nature genetics 2013;45;1;109-13

  PUBMED: 23222960; PMC: 3605770; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2478

• Intestinal colonization resistance.

  Lawley TD and Walker AW

  Immunology 2013;138;1;1-11

  PUBMED: 23240815; PMC: 3533696; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2567.2012.03616.x

• The Clostridium difficile spo0A gene is a persistence and transmission factor.

  Deakin LJ, Clare S, Fagan RP, Dawson LF, Pickard DJ, West MR, Wren BW, Fairweather NF, Dougan G and Lawley TD

  Infection and immunity 2012;80;8;2704-11

  PUBMED: 22615253; PMC: 3434595; DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00147-12

• 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

• Evolutionary dynamics of Clostridium difficile over short and long time scales.

  He M, Sebaihia M, Lawley TD, Stabler RA, Dawson LF, Martin MJ, Holt KE, Seth-Smith HM, Quail MA, Rance R, Brooks K, Churcher C, Harris D, Bentley SD, Burrows C, Clark L, Corton C, Murray V, Rose G, Thurston S, van Tonder A, Walker D, Wren BW, Dougan G and Parkhill J

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2010;107;16;7527-32

  PUBMED: 20368420; PMC: 2867753; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914322107

• Antibiotic treatment of clostridium difficile carrier mice triggers a supershedder state, spore-mediated transmission, and severe disease in immunocompromised hosts.

  Lawley TD, Clare S, Walker AW, Goulding D, Stabler RA, Croucher N, Mastroeni P, Scott P, Raisen C, Mottram L, Fairweather NF, Wren BW, Parkhill J and Dougan G

  Infection and immunity 2009;77;9;3661-9

  PUBMED: 19564382; PMC: 2737984; DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00558-09

• Proteomic and genomic characterization of highly infectious Clostridium difficile 630 spores.

  Lawley TD, Croucher NJ, Yu L, Clare S, Sebaihia M, Goulding D, Pickard DJ, Parkhill J, Choudhary J and Dougan G

  Journal of bacteriology 2009;191;17;5377-86

  PUBMED: 19542279; PMC: 2725610; DOI: 10.1128/JB.00597-09

• Comparative genome and phenotypic analysis of Clostridium difficile 027 strains provides insight into the evolution of a hypervirulent bacterium.

  Stabler RA, He M, Dawson L, Martin M, Valiente E, Corton C, Lawley TD, Sebaihia M, Quail MA, Rose G, Gerding DN, Gibert M, Popoff MR, Parkhill J, Dougan G and Wren BW

  Genome biology 2009;10;9;R102

  PUBMED: 19781061; PMC: 2768977; DOI: 10.1186/gb-2009-10-9-r102

• Host transmission of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is controlled by virulence factors and indigenous intestinal microbiota.

  Lawley TD, Bouley DM, Hoy YE, Gerke C, Relman DA and Monack DM

  Infection and immunity 2008;76;1;403-16

  PUBMED: 17967858; PMC: 2223630; DOI: 10.1128/IAI.01189-07

• Genome-wide screen for Salmonella genes required for long-term systemic infection of the mouse.

  Lawley TD, Chan K, Thompson LJ, Kim CC, Govoni GR and Monack DM

  PLoS pathogens 2006;2;2;e11

  PUBMED: 16518469; PMC: 1383486; DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.0020011