Laura Piddock is a microbiologist, specialising in

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

s and

antibiotic resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resis ...

in bacteria. She is Professor Emerita at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, UK and also Scientific Director within the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership.

Education

Laura J. V. Piddock gained a BSc degree in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry and Microbiology) in 1981 and was awarded a PhD degree by the University of Birmingham in 1985 for work on

penicillin binding proteins Penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) are a group of proteins that are characterized by their affinity for and binding of penicillin. They are a normal constituent of many bacteria; the name just reflects the way by which the protein was discov ...

with Richard Wise at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham.

Career

She has been employed at University of Birmingham since 2001. Her research concentrates on the origin of antibiotic resistance in bacteria but also includes a broad interest in all aspects of the continued use of antibiotics in medicine. She is particularly interested in the control of expression of bacterial efflux pumps and their role in bacterial biology, especially as pathogens. Her research includes identifying inhibitors of efflux pumps. The genes for aspects of antibiotic resistance are often found on mobile genetic elements (

plasmid A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and ...

s) and her research is therefore also into how transfer of plasmids between bacteria can be inhibited. Her research group has worked on the broad-spectrum

fluoroquinolone Quinolone antibiotics constitute a large group of broad-spectrum bacteriocidals that share a bicyclic core structure related to the substance 4-quinolone. They are used in human and veterinary medicine to treat bacterial infections, as well ...

antibiotics, providing better information on how this class of antibiotics can be used more effectively in medicine for humans and animals. In particular, this has addressed the way that their use in veterinary practice can generate antibiotic resistant bacteria that enter the food chain of humans.

Awards

She was President of the

British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) is a UK-based multi-professional organisation committed to preventing infectious diseases and tackling the growing threat of drug-resistant infections – one of the top global public heal ...

from 2009 until 2012. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Microbiology in 2001, the

Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

in 2012 and has also been elected a Fellow of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. In 2014 she was awarded the

Marjory Stephenson Prize The Marjory Stephenson Prize is the principal prize of the Microbiology Society, awarded for an outstanding contribution of current importance in microbiology. Marjory Stephenson was the second president of the Microbiology Society (1947 - 1949) ...

by the

Microbiology Society The Microbiology Society (previously the Society for General Microbiology) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. It is the large ...

for research into the basis of antibiotic resistance as a platform for early drug discovery and in 2016 she won the Microbiology Society's Microbiology Outreach Prize. In 2019 she was awarded the

Garrod Lecture and Medal The Garrod Lecture and Medal is an award presented by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. It was established in 1982 and named for L. P. Garrod. The medal is made of silver by the Birmingham Mint. The recipient of the award is con ...

by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy for how her work on antibiotic efflux has led to new ideas for drug discovery.

Publications

Piddock is the author or co-author of over 250 scientific publications, reports and book chapters. These include: * George Youlden, Vito Ricci, Xuan Wang Kan, Laura Piddock, Sara Jabbari and John R. King (2021
Time dependent asymptotic analysis of the gene regulatory network of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump system in gram-negative bacteria.
''Journal of Mathematical Biology'' 82 * Laura Piddock (2016
Reflecting on the final report of the O'Neill Review on Antimicrobial Resistance.
''The Lancet Infectious Diseases'' 16 767-768

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piddock, Laura Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British microbiologists Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Society of Biology Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Birmingham