Infection Theme
Staphyloccocus aureus
The infection theme is focussed on translating new molecular technologies and advances in informatics into the investigation of microbial transmission, diagnosis of infectious disease and identifying novel outbreaks of communicable disease. The projects are divided into those focussed on three organisms, which are the major causes of hospital acquired infection; namely, Staphylococcus aureus (including MRSA), Clostridium difficile and Norovirus on the one hand and on the other a database linkage project that facilitates investigations of patterns of infectious disease among patients using the Oxford Hospitals and GPs.
The aims and objectives to translate deep sequencing of pathogens on an epidemiological scale for tracking hospital acquired infection has attracted further substantial funding from the UK Clinical Research Consortium (UK-CRC). The award named “Modernising Medical Microbiology” is a consortium consisting of the Health Protection Agency (HPA), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and The University of Oxford combined with the ORH NHS Trust. This major programme of work is likely to radically transform the practice of microbiology and infectious disease as well as microbial research in the coming years. This joint programme of work between UKCRC and BRC is nationally leading the way in this arena.
Research within the Infection Theme funded by the BRC and its collaboration with the UKCRC “Modernising Medical Microbiology” covers four main themes:
• Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
• Clostridium difficile
• Norovirus
• Database
