Professor Ronan Mccarthy
Professor in Biomedical Sciences
Heinz Wolff 233
- Email: ronan.mccarthy@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 268441
Summary
Ronan gained his Bachelor of Science in Genetics with first class honours from University College Cork, Ireland in 2010 and was awarded the title of College Scholar. In autumn 2010, Ronan was awarded an Irish Research Council PhD Scholarship to study novel biofilm inhibition strategies against the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lab of Professor Fergal O’Gara. In 2014, Ronan joined the research group of Professor Alain Filloux at the MRC Centre for Bacteriology and Infection at Imperial College London. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ronan interrogated the second messenger signalling cascades that govern the biofilm mode of growth in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Following on from his time at Imperial College Ronan joined the Microbiology Department at the Animal and Plant Health Agency where he used host transcriptomics and pathway analysis to profile the host response to infection. He joined the Biosciences Division in Brunel University to continue his analysis of the regulatory networks that govern pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation in the Gram negative opportunistic pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. In 2021, Ronan was awarded a BBSRC New Investigator Award to study the regulation of desiccation tolerance and biofilm formation in Acinetobacter baumannii and to identify compounds that could disrupt these survival mechanisms. He has also expanded into the field of biofilm engineering, using synthetic biology approaches to give control over bacterial biofilm formation and using these tools to tackle environmental challenges such as plastic waste. As a PI he has secured funding from the BBSRC, NC3Rs, Academy of Medical Sciences, Horizon 2020, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Innovate UK, NERC and the Medical Research Council.
Responsibility
BB2716- Medical Microbiology- Lecturer
BB2802- Primary Literature Interrogation and Synthesis
Newest selected publications
Harkova, LG., de Dios, R., Rubio Valle, A., Pérez Pulido, AJ. and McCarthy, RR. (2024) 'Cyclic AMP is a global virulence regulator governing inter and intrabacterial signalling in Acinetobacter baumannii'. PLoS Pathogens, 20 (9). pp. 1 - 30. ISSN: 1553-7366 Open Access Link
Maslova, E., EisaianKhongi, L., Rigole, P., Coenye, T. and McCarthy, RR. (2024) 'Carbon source competition within the wound microenvironment can significantly influence infection progression'. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 10 (1). pp. 1 - 10. ISSN: 2055-5008 Open Access Link
Hassard, F., Curtis, TP., Dotro, GC., Golyshin, P., Gutierrez, T., Heaven, S., et al. (2024) 'Scaling-up Engineering Biology for Enhanced Environmental Solutions'. ACS synthetic biology, 13 (6). pp. 1586 - 1588. ISSN: 2161-5063 Open Access Link
Wallach, I., Bernard, D., Nguyen, K., Ho, G., Morrison, A., Stecula, A., et al. (2024) 'AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study'. Scientific Reports, 14 (1). pp. 1 - 16. ISSN: 2045-2322 Open Access Link
Howard, SA. and McCarthy, RR. (2023) 'Modulating biofilm can potentiate activity of novel plastic-degrading enzymes'. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 9 (1). pp. 1 - 10. ISSN: 2055-5008 Open Access Link