Dr Martin Welch

Research Group Leader at Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

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Research Group Leader, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

Dr Martin Welch is the leader of the group researching the 'Regulation of Virulence and Biofilm Formation by Pathogenic Bacteria' in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. Their work is focused on understanding how bacterial populations sense and respond to (i) one another and (ii) specific environmental challenges, and how they modulate their behaviour accordingly.

In particular, they focus on how these factors affect virulence in two gram-negative model organisms; the opportunistic human pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the economically-important plant pathogen, Erwinia (now renamed Pectobacterium) atrosepticum. A special area of interest is in defining how changes in lifestyle (planktonic versus biofilm) influence cell-cell signaling and virulence factor production. Their work combines state-of-the-art proteomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses with conventional molecular microbiological and biochemical approaches.

They work on clinical and environmental samples, as well as type (genome sequence) strains and collaborate closely with groups in the Chemistry Department to design and test novel low molecular weight blockers of specific biochemical and signaling pathways.