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Professor Smith’s research interests relate to how bacteriophages alter bacterial physiology, phenotype and bacterial community structure through chromosomal integration, subversion of cell function, or during active infection and cell lysis.  His group uses lab, multi-omic and bioinformatics based approaches to determine the physiological impact of lysogeny or lytic infection on the host bacterium and the surrounding microbiota in clinical and environmental settings.  His groups research aims are to offer an insight into the modulation of microbial communities and how phages play a role in bacterial/community selection and evolution.

All research is heavily linked to genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics and linked to a range of techniques including; molecular, protein, bioinformatics, microbiological and virological based techniques to study; virus-host interactions; phage genomics; identification of phage encoded genes that provide positive selection for the infected bacterial host and seasonal epidemiology versus virus genotype. 

Professor Smith is the academic lead and director for the DNA sequencing research facility at 51����, NU-OMICS. This is an outfacing service that is linked to both academic and industrially linked DNA sequencing projects.

• Addressing pandemic-wide systematic errors in the SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny, Hunt, M., Hinrichs, A., Anderson, D., Karim, L., Dearlove, B., Knaggs, J., Constantinides, B., Fowler, P., Rodger, G., Street, T., Lumley, S., Webster, H., Sanderson, T., Ruis, C., de Maio, N., Amenga-Etego, L., Amuzu, D., Avaro, M., Awandare, G., Ayivor-Djanie, R., Bashton, M., Batty, E., Bediako, Y., De Belder, D., Benedetti, E., Bergthaler, A., Boers, S., Campos, J., Carr, R., Cuba, F., Dattero, M., Dejnirattisai, W., Dilthey, A., Duedu, K., Endler, L., Engelmann, I., Francisco, N., Fuchs, J., Gnimpieba, E., Groc, S., Gyamfi, J., Heemskerk, D., Houwaart, T., Hsiao, N., Huska, M., Hölzer, M., Iranzadeh, A., Jarva, H., Jeewandara, C., Jolly, B., Joseph, R., Kant, R., Ki, K., Kurkela, S., Lappalainen, M., Lataretu, M., Liu, C., Malavige, G., Mashe, T., Mongkolsapaya, J., Montes, B., Mora, J., Morang’a, C., Mvula, B., Nagarajan, N., Nelson, A., Ngoi, J., da Paixão, J., Panning, M., Poklepovich, T., Quashie, P., Ranasinghe, D., Russo, M., San, J., Sanderson, N., Scaria, V., Screaton, G., Sironen, T., Sisay, A., Smith, D., Smura, T., Supasa, P., Suphavilai, C., Swann, J., Tegally, H., Tegomoh, B., Vapalahti, O., Walker, A., Wilkinson, R., Williamson, C., de Oliveira, T., Peto, T., Crook, D., Corbett-Detig, R., Iqbal, Z. 30 Apr 2024
• Building a future for phage-based technologies – a thought leadership approach to accelerating progress in the UK, Hodges, F., Smith, D. 23 Aug 2024, In: Sustainable Microbiology
• Controlling bacterial growth and inactivation using thin film-based surface acoustic waves, Ong, H., Jiang, Y., Guo, Y., Zhou, J., Zhang, J., Luo, J., Tao, R., Zhang, M., Dover, L., Smith, D., Thummavichai, K., Mishra, Y., Wu, Q., Fu, Y. 21 Sep 2024, In: Lab on a Chip - Miniaturisation for Chemistry and Biology
• COVID-19 risk mitigation in reopening mass cultural events: population-based observational study for the UK Events Research Programme in Liverpool City Region, Burnside, G., Cheyne, C., Leeming, G., Humann, M., Darby, A., Green, M., Crozier, A., Maskell, S., O'Halloran, K., Musi, E., Carmi, E., Khan, N., Fisher, D., Corcoran, R., Dunning, J., Edmunds, W., Tharmaratnam, K., Hughes, D., Malki-Epshtein, L., Cook, M., Roberts, B., Gallagher, E., Howell, K., Chand, M., Kemp, R., Boulter, M., Fowler, T., Semple, M., Coffey, E., Ashton, M., García-Fiñana, M., Buchan, I., Bashton, M., Smith, D., Nelson, A., Young, G. 1 Jan 2024, In: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Influence of maternal folate depletion on Art3 DNA methylation in the murine adult brain: potential consequences for brain and neurocognitive health, Kok, D., Saunders, R., Nelson, A., Smith, D., Ford, D., Mathers, J., McKay, J. 1 May 2024, In: Mutagenesis
• Lineage frequency time series reveal elevated levels of genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England, Yu, Q., Ascensao, J., Okada, T., Boyd, O., Volz, E., Hallatschek, O., Bashton, M., Smith, D., Nelson, A., McCann, C. 15 Apr 2024, In: PLoS Pathogens
• Prevalence of persistent SARS-CoV-2 in a large community surveillance study, Ghafari, M., Hall, M., Golubchik, T., Ayoubkhani, D., House, T., MacIntyre-Cockett, G., Fryer, H., Thomson, L., Nurtay, A., Kemp, S., Ferretti, L., Buck, D., Green, A., Trebes, A., Lonie, L., Piazza, P., Studley, R., Rourke, E., Smith, D., Bashton, M., Nelson, A., Crown, M., McCann, C., Young, G., Santos, R., Richards, Z., Tariq, M., Cahuantzi, R., Barrett, J., Fraser, C., Bonsall, D., Walker, A., Lythgoe, K. 29 Feb 2024, In: Nature
• Profiling the Enterobacterales community isolated from retail foods in England, Harding-Crooks, R., Jones, A., Smith, D., Fanning, S., Fox, E. 1 Nov 2024, In: Journal of Food Protection
• Spatial and temporal epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 virus lineages in Teesside, UK, in 2020: effects of socio-economic deprivation, weather, and lockdown on lineage dynamics, Moss, E., Rushton, S., Baker, P., Bashton, M., Crown, M., Dos Santos, R., Nelson, A., O’Brien, S., Richards, Z., Sanderson, R., Yew, W., Young, G., McCann, C., Smith, D. 4 Sep 2024, In: Peer Community Journal
• Structure and rational engineering of the PglX methyltransferase and specificity factor for BREX phage defence, Went, S., Picton, D., Morgan, R., Nelson, A., Brady, A., Mariano, G., Dryden, D., Smith, D., Wenner, N., Hinton, J., Blower, T. 22 Aug 2024, In: Nature Communications

• Rui Nunes Dos Santos Isolation and classification of bacteriophages purified from maternal breast milk and determination of their role in bacterial community development. Start Date: 01/10/2022
• Mariklairi Kiourkou Characterising the role and evolution of temperate bacteriophages in chronic respiratory infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients using their first isolate. Start Date: 01/10/2022
• Onengiye Ogbanga EXPLORING HUMAN RELATED BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES FOR FORENSIC APPLICATIONS IN HUMAN PROFILING AND DEATH INVESTIGATIONS Start Date: 30/06/2022

• Microbiology PhD June 30 2005
• Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2014
• Information not provided Society for General Microbiology (SGM) 2011

• NU-OMICS, 51���� DNA Sequencing Research Facility