Maurice Gallagher
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 650 5409
- Email: MP.Gallagher@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Rm. 1.59, Roger Land Building
- City
- Post code
Background
1979 BSc (Hons) Biochemistry and Pharmacology
1985 Ph.D. Strathclyde University
1985-1987 MRC postdoctoral research assistant, University of Dundee
1987-1989 CRC postdoctoral research assistant, University of Dundee
1989 Joined Edinburgh University
1998 Senior Lecturer
Undergraduate teaching
Course Organiser for Molecular Microbiology 3 and honours year vaccines elective.
Also teaching on SFP 3 and Biotechnology 3 and 4.
QA & QE officer for the School of Biological Sciences.
Research summary
Our lab is focused around addressing issues of bacteriology and biotechnology. We use a wide range of approaches, including genetics, molecular (and synthetic) biology, microbial physiology, gene expression profiling (e.g. microarrays), gene cloning and disruption, low and high throughput sequencing (e.g. Solexa), protein expression and purification, proteomics, interactome analysis, and immunomics. However, our guiding principle is not based on using a range of technological approaches but rather, to define the key questions and issues that we wish to address, and then approach this in the most appropriate scientific manner.
Much of our current work is collaborative and has potential intellectual property value so is not published. However, our lab is focused mainly on studying bacterial pathogens, particularly those associated with food borne infection (e.g. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridia) and medical implant infections (e.g. Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Enterobacter, Klebsiella). Key themes include:
- Developing live and peptide based vaccines
- Characterising bacterial stress and response mechanisms for understanding and elimination of bacterial pathogens (e.g. cold shock and peroxide stress components and their roles, biofilm formation, unravelling mechanisms of antibiotic tolerant persistence)
- Development of novel systems for quantitative biofilm analysis, for measuring bacterial survival and antibiotic effectiveness
- Developing novel bacterial imaging and elimination systems for medical use (e.g. for ultrasound imaging)
- Use of polymer microarrays to identify compounds which strongly bind or repel bacterial binding to surfaces (e.g for use as surface coatings on medical devices or for sequestering/ detecting pathogens).
We also have a long history of studying bacterial solute transport systems per se and as models for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and multi-drug resistance in cancer cells.
-
Mechanisms Related to Inhibition of Fungal Biofilm Formation on Medical Device Coated with Poly(Methylmethacrylate-co-Dimethylacrylamide)
In:
Biointerface Research in Applied Chemistry, vol. 13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33263/BRIAC134.332
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Generation of Markerless Deletions in the Nosocomial Pathogen Clostridium difficile by induction of DNA Double-strand Breaks
(12 pages)
In:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 85
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02055-18
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Effect of low intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms
In:
Orthopaedic Proceedings, vol. 101-B, pp. 1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Meeting abstract (Published) -
Effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms
In:
Orthopaedic Proceedings, vol. 100-B, pp. 62
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Meeting abstract (Published) -
The biofilm eradication activity of acetic acid in the management of periprosthetic joint infection
In:
Bone & Joint Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1302/2046-3758.78.BJR- 2018-0045.R1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Unexpected synergistic and antagonistic antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus biofilms
(11 pages)
In:
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, vol. 73, pp. 1830–1840
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dky087
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Light as a broad spectrum antimicrobial
(9 pages)
In:
Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00119
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
The dissolvable bead: A novel in vitro biofilm model for evaluating antimicrobial resistance
In:
Journal of microbiological methods
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2017.08.020
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
High-throughput identification of bacteria repellent polymers for medical devices
In:
Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3791/54382
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Fortified interpenetrating polymers – bacteria resistant coatings for medical devices
In:
Journal of Materials Chemistry B: Materials for biology and medicine, vol. 4, pp. 5405-5411
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TB01110A
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Live and inactivated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium stimulate similar but distinct transcriptome profiles in bovine macrophages and dendritic cells
In:
Veterinary Research, vol. 47, pp. 46
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-016-0328-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Bacteria repelling poly(methylmethacrylate-co-dimethylacrylamide) coatings for biomedical devices
(7 pages)
In:
Journal of Materials Chemistry B: Materials for biology and medicine, vol. 2, pp. 6723-6729
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c4tb01129e
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Using High Throughput Sequencing to Characterise Key Regulators of the Cold Shock Response.
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
Colonising new frontiers-microarrays reveal biofilm modulating polymers
(6 pages)
In:
Journal of Materials Chemistry, vol. 21, pp. 96-101
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c0jm01987a
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
In vivo targets of the cold shock proteins CspA and CspE
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Abstract (Published) -
Macrophages and dendritic cells have distinct transcriptome profiles during early infection with Salmonella Typhimurium
(1 page)
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Abstract (Published) -
Crystallization and X-ray structure of cold-shock protein E from Salmonella typhimurium
(6 pages)
In:
Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications, vol. 65, pp. 1240-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S1744309109033788
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Macrophages and dendritic cells have distinct transcriptome profiles during early infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
(2 pages)
In:
Immunology, vol. 125, pp. 83-84
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2567.2008.02974.x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Meeting abstract (Published) -
Sequence specificity of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins: a novel DNA microarray approach
(9 pages)
In:
Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 35
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkm040
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Human papillomavirus in pterygium
In:
British Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 85, pp. 782-784
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.85.7.782
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)