DrLuke Allsopp

My group sits within the Respiratory Infections Section within the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) which is the largest Department within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial. We are based at the Emmanual Kaye Building, Royal Brompton Campus in Chelsea

Our research is focused on, Gram negative bacterial secretion systems, regulation, biofilm formation factors, antimicrobial resistance and virulence of pathogens. Secretion systems enable bacteria to export proteins into the environment or directly into host cells or rival bacteria. These systems play a role in enabling the bacteria to subvert the host, obtain nutrients and compete with other bacteria in a particular environment. A biofilm is a community of bacteria growing within a self-produced matrix. Biofilms are a challenge for medicine because they are less susceptible to antibiotics, phage, detergents and the host immune system. How bacteria sense and deploy secretion systems, biofilm programs and other factors to prosper in response to their environmental challenges fascinates us. We are happy to support competitive and eligible PhD candidates for the Presidents Scholarships and can also explore other options for funding. My team has obtained funding from ESCMID, Academy of Medical Sciences, BBSRC, LifeArc and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

I gained my Bachelor of Science with first class Honours from The University of Queensland in 2006. In 2007 I was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and commenced my PhD at The University of Queensland in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. There I focused on the characterization of new adhesins in uropathogenic Escherichia coli for their role in biofilm formation, adhesion and virulence. In 2013 I joined the research group of Professor Alain Filloux at the MRC Centre for Bacteriology and Infection at Imperial College and I switched to focus on the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In 2014 I was awarded and commenced a Marie Currie Fellowship investigating biofilm formation and the type six secretion system. I am now an Associate Professor in Molecular Bacteriology of Respiratory Infections at NHLI and have a long-standing interest in chronic respiratory pathogens.
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