Dr Ines Moura

Profile

I performed my PhD studies at the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS-Italy) investigating mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Clostridium difficile as part of a Marie Curie ITN. I later joined the National Reference Laboratory of Antimicrobial Resistance (INSA, Portugal) as postdoctoral researcher where I extended my knowledge in antimicrobial resistance to other Gram-positive and Gram-negative nosocomial pathogens. I also part of the Laboratory of Bacterial Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (ITQB, Portugal) to investigate virulence factors in S. epidermidis using genomic and proteomic approaches.

Since 2016, I have been part of the Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) Research group, lead by Professor Mark Wilcox.

Responsibilities

• Postdoctoral Researcher

Research interests

Since joining the HCAI, I have continuing to work with C. difficile, and extended my research interests to gut microbiome studies using 16S sequencing, metagenomics and real-time PCR. Some of these studies involve the in vitro model of the human colon used in our group to investigate drug induced dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiome and propensity to induce C. difficile infection.

I have also taken part in a project funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC, between the University of Oxford, PHE and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, to establish how new technologies can be integrated into medical microbiology, which allowed me to extend my skills to WGS sequencing.

Qualifications

• PhD in Microbiology and Public Health Sciences
• MSc in Genetics
• BSc in Genetics and Biotechnology

Professional memberships

• ESCMID
• SFAM
• Society for Anaerobic Microbiology

Student education

Supervisor of final year research projects for Microbiology students since 2019

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
• Healthcare Associated Infection Research Group