Simon Clarke

The research carried out in my laboratory is aimed at understanding how two important human pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, are able to colonise the human host, resist its defences and cause disease.

I am particularly interested in the effect that surface structures have on the physical properties of bacteria and how this influences the host-pathogen interaction.

In collaboration with our gut microbial ecologist colleagues in the School of Food Biosciences, we are currently investigating the ability of S. aureus to colonise and persist within the human gut.