Prof Martin Maiden
| Address: | Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford |
| Tel: | + 44 (0)1865 271284 |
| Email: | |
| Website: | External webpage |
Principal areas of research Bacterial population biology, Multilocus Sequence Typing, molecular epidemiology. |
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Biography
After a training in microbiology at the University of Reading, Martin Maiden began his research career in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge where he took his PhD degree with Peter Henderson on Escherichia coli molecular genetics. Following a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship in the same laboratory, he moved for nine years to the National Institute for Biological Standards and control in Hertfordshire to set up a group in the Division of Bacteriology working on meningococcal vaccines. This period included a one year sabbatical as a Humboldt Fellow in Mark Achtman’s laboratory at the Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Zellbiologie und Genetik in Berlin. He moved to Oxford in 1997 as a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Molecular Epidemiology and Fellow of Hertford College. He also holds an Honorary Chair at the University of Cardiff.
Research
Martin Maiden’s interests are in the investigation of bacterial infectious diseases and the translation of research findings to public health interventions, especially the design and implementation of new vaccines and vaccination strategies.
His current work comprises multi-disciplinary studies aimed at improving understanding of the epidemiology, population biology, and evolution of bacterial pathogens. The strategy employed, is to use molecular sequence determination of genes encoding both antigens and ‘housekeeping’ proteins for the characterisation of large, representative collections of bacterial isolates. These data can be used in a number of ways. They provide unambiguous typing data which enable hyper invasive lineages to be identified in any laboratory with access to sequencing technology. As both the samples and final data are portable (the latter electronically via the Internet) this approach provides a robust method for establishing the global epidemiology of bacterial pathogens in general. However, these data have many more applications and can be used in combination with phylogenetic, theoretical, immunological, and biochemical approaches to develop an improved understanding of the ways in which bacterial pathogens evolve and spread.
A great advantage of the nucleotide sequence-based approach is that it is readily extended to all bacterial pathogens, particularly with the increasing availability of complete bacterial genome sequences. In addition to establishing the basic population structure and epidemiology of a range of pathogens, such studies provide comparative data enabling the establishment of the basic principles of the population biology, evolution, and epidemiology of bacterial pathogens in general. Currently a multi-disciplinary collaborative project, developing a novel meningococcal vaccine is being developed with Dr Andrew Pollard (Paediatrics, University of Oxford), Professor Ian Feavers (National Institute for Biological Standards and Control), and Dr Jeremy Derrick (University of Manchester).
Key Publications
Zollinger WD, Poolman JT, Maiden MC. Meningococcal serogroup B vaccines: will they live up to expectations? (2011) Expert Rev Vaccines. May;10(5):559-61.
Brehony C, Wilson DJ, Maiden MC. Microbiology (2009)Variation of the factor H-binding protein of Neisseria meningitidis 155(Pt 12):4155-69.
Trotter CL, Maiden MC. (2009) Meningococcal vaccines and herd immunity: lessons learned from serogroup C conjugate vaccination programs. Expert Rev Vaccines 8(7):851-61. Review.
Maiden MC, Ibarz-Pavón AB, Urwin R, Gray SJ, Andrews NJ, Clarke SC, Walker AM, Evans MR, Kroll JS, Neal KR, Ala'aldeen DA, Crook DW, Cann K, Harrison S, Cunningham R, Baxter D, Kaczmarski E, Maclennan J, Cameron JC, Stuart JM. (2008) Impact of meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccines on carriage and herd immunity. J Infect Dis 1;197(5):737-43.
Harrison, L. H., K. A. Jolley, K. A. Shutt, J. W. Marsh, M. O'Leary, L. T. Sanza, and M. C. Maiden. (2006) Antigenic shift and increased incidence of meningococcal disease. Journal of Infectious Diseases 193:1266-74.
Callaghan, M. J., K. A. Jolley, and M. C. Maiden (2006) Opacity-associated adhesin repertoire in hyperinvasive Neisseria meningitidis. Infection and Immunity 74:5085-94.
