Lawley Lab – Wellcome Sanger Institute Skip to main content Careers | Find us | Contact us About Our Vision Leadership Strategy and Funding Influencing Policy Equality in Science Careers Study Research Policies Campus Connections Admin Groups Branding and Logos Science COVID-19 Research Programmes Scientific Groups Collaborations Tools Data Sanger Projects Publications Sanger Seminar Series People Leadership Faculty Associate Faculty Honorary Faculty International Fellows Science Staff Non-science Staff Full A-Z Innovation Innovation at the Institute For Industry For Researchers Case Studies Our Spin-Outs Sanger Technologies News Group leadCore teamPrevious team membersAssociated researchRelated groupsProgrammes and FacilitiesPartnersPublications Lawley Lab at the Wellcome Sanger Institute Faculty Group Infection Genomics Open Targets Parasites and Microbes Lawley Lab Host-microbiota interactions We are covered with a complex microbial community, known as our microbiota, which plays important roles in our physiology, immunity, metabolism and sustenance. Within the human gastrointestinal tract alone there are over 1,000 bacterial species, which amounts to approximately 10 times more cells than we harbor in our entire body and 200 times more genes than are found within our genome. We are really a 'supraorganism' consisting of our 'human' and 'microbial' selves. Remarkably, the majority of microbes found within our microbiota have not been cultured, nor described. This is a major limitation for phenotypic and mechanistic studies to understand the basic functions of our microbiota in determining the host's health or disease status. We still have a lot to understand about ourselves and the functions of our human genome in controlling our surroundings in terms of our microbiota. Investigating and understanding these situations raise the possibility that targeting the restoration of a dysbiotic microbiota back to a healthy population mix by using defined formulations of health-associated bacteria could protect against, or treat, certain diseases. The team investigates host-microbiota interactions linked to: health early life colonisation the effects of antibiotic treatment imbalances and effects of infection and autoimmune diseases. The goals of these lines of research are to identify avenues for therapeutic invention to restore microbiota homeostasis. Our people Group lead Dr Trevor Lawley Group Leader Trevor's research investigates the mechanisms that underlie how micro-organisms on mucosal surfaces (gut, nasopharnyx, uro-gential tract) interact with their host during periods of health and disease. In particular he seeks to develop novel ways to treat diseases that are associated with unwanted imbalances in the micro-organism communities. Core team Hilary Browne Staff Scientist Luis Fernando Camarillo Guerrero PhD Student Matthew Dunn Senior Research Assistant Dr Nitin Kumar Senior Bioinformatician Dr Junyan Liu Postdoctoral Fellow Tapoka T. Mkandawire PhD Student Dr Fernanda Schreiber Postdoctoral Fellow Mark Stares Advanced Research Assistant Dr Kevin Vervier Senior Staff Scientist Previous team members Blessing Anonye PhD Student Dr Julia Maryam Arasteh Postdoctoral Fellow Giulia Falivelli Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Samuel Forster NHMRC CJ Martin Biomedical Fellow Dr Anne Neville Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Elisa Viciani Postdoctoral Fellow Ana Zhu Postdoctoral Fellow previous members Associated research Tools & software Tool Artemis Comparison Tool (ACT) ACT is a Java application for displaying pairwise comparisons between two or more DNA sequences. Data Data set Reference genomes of Clostridium difficile We have sequenced and annotated 15 high quality reference genomes of Clostridium difficile. previous data sets Data set Bacterial Data This Archived page provides historical information on the genome sequences of bacteria that were sequenced at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and ... Projects Research project Artemis Visualising, analysing and browsing next generation sequence data Examples and use cases for Artemis are shown below. Related groups Science group Pathogen Informatics Parasites and Microbes The Pathogen Informatics team develop and maintain software applications and systems to support the research activities of the Parasites and Microbes ... previous related groups Science group Dougan Group Microbial Pathogenesis The Microbial Pathogenesis team, under the leadership of Professor Gordon Dougan, focused on the genetic analysis of the interactions between ... Science group Parkhill Group Pathogen Genomics The Pathogen genomics team, headed by Julian Parkhill, used high-throughput genomic and phenotypic analysis of bacteria to understand their virulence, ... Wellcome Sanger Institute Programmes and Facilities Programme Open Targets Open Targets is an innovative, public-private partnership that uses human genetics and genomics data at large scale for systematic drug target ... Programme Parasites and Microbes We are using genomics to get at important problems in infectious disease, with a strong desire to translate this into tools ... previous programmes and facilities Programme Infection Genomics The Infection Genomics Programme investigates the common underpinning mechanisms of evolution, infection and resistance to therapy in viruses, bacteria and parasites. ... Partners The Group has several productive internal and external collaborations including those with Professor Fiona Powrie's Group at the University of Oxford, Professor Brendan Wren's Group at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Professor Neil Fairweather's Group at Imperial College London, Open Targets, Arthur Kaser and Matt Zilbauer at the University of Cambridge, Life Study, Lindsay Hall at the University of East Anglia, Alan Walker at the University of Aberdeen, Prof. Ed Kuijper at Leiden University Medical Centre, as well as close interactions with several NHS hospitals and the Health Protection Agency reference laboratories within the UK and abroad. External Professor Fiona Powrie's Group at the University of Oxford External Professor Brendan Wren's Group at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) External Professor Neil Fairweather's Group at Imperial College London External Open Targets External Arthur Kaser at the University of Cambridge External Matt Zilbauer at the University of Cambridge External Life Study External Lindsay Hall at the University of East Anglia External Alan Walker at the University of Aberdeen External Prof. Ed Kuijper at Leiden University Medical Centre See full index Publications Loading publications... Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA. UK +44 (0)1223 834244 About Legal Data sharing Careers Privacy Equality, Diversity, Inclusion Study Cookies Modern Slavery Statement Expand footer Wellcome Sanger Institute, Genome Research Limited (reg no. 2742969) is a charity registered in England with number 1021457 2021 Wellcome Sanger Institute | All rights reserved
