Tackling Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli infection across continents

Lead Research Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Department Name: The Roslin Institute

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
 
Description To date, we have funded valuable exchanges visits leading to a successful BBSRC grant submission (BB/P02095X/1) involving our laboratories and now published two manuscripts: doi: 10.1128/AAC.02085-15 and doi: 10.1042/CS20200971. Through my visit to Argentina in 2016, I have now set up a additional collaboration in Argentina Dr Cataldi around cattle colonisation and vaccine research and have enabled some PacBio sequencing of their cattle isolates in collaboration with the USDA which is just being submitted for publication. Further research is now being planned with CONICET and we have recently been awarded workshop funding from BBSRC (BB/T019743/1) to extend the collocation with CONICET to help understand whether the high rates of infection they have in Argentina are linked to the genetics of their circulating strains. This workshop will be delayed until permissible due to the SARC-CoV2 pandemic.
Exploitation Route full grant applications and international partnership to deal with a significant bacterial zoonosis
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Environment

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology
 
Description Argentina has some of the highest rates of kidney damage (HUS) due to E. coli O157 infection in the world. We have expertise in the UK in understanding this organism and why certain strains are more likely to be associated with serious human disease. The partnership award has led to information exchange around this important issue and has allowed us to include Argentinian isolates in current seqeuncing projects for comparative studies. We have submitted a collaborative grant to BBSRC to investigate differences in strain pathogenesis and this was awarded in 2017. This will allow us to further build the collaboration with CONICET. As a result of my visit to visit to CONICET in 2016, we had further collaborative visits in 2018 that overlapped with the 3-yearly VTEC international conference held in Florence in 2018. We have supported visits, one from Romina Brando to carry out further work in our laboratory to complete investigations of some highly pathogenic EHEC O157 strains and this has now been published. The other visit was from Angel Cataldi who works in cattle vaccine development and a relationship is being build there towards further research. We have been awarded international workshop funding to continue discussion of E. coli O157 issues and interventions in Argentina but this has been delayed until March 2023.
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink
Impact Types Cultural

Societal
 
Description Cattle farming practices and the emergence of Escherichia coli O157 (Stx2a+): an international workshop award with INTA Argentina
Amount £9,100 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/T019743/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2020 
End 07/2021
 
Description Food Standards Scotland Open Tender
Amount £120,000 (GBP)
Funding ID CRF:MRI/104/17 
Organisation Government of Scotland 
Department Food Standards Agency (FSA), Scotland
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2017 
End 06/2019
 
Description Machine-learning to predict and understand the zoonotic threat of E. coli O157 isolates
Amount £421,490 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/P02095X/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 09/2020
 
Description Collaboration with Public Health England 
Organisation Public Health England
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Provision of animal and human STEC for sequencing, working with PHE to analyse strain phylogeny and epidemiology. We have contributed through further analysis of long read strain sequences to understand changes in strains that occur during outbreaks. We have co-upervised 2 PhD students on STEC bioinformatics projects.
Collaborator Contribution Reduced rate sequencing of STEC, analysis of data, provision of metadata. Co-publication
Impact Publications as in main list
Start Year 2013
 
Description EHEC O157 research groups in Argentina 
Organisation National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Argentina)
Country Argentina 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution This award is a 'partnering award' and it has been successful in leading to research exchange trips and discussion between our laboratory and several groups in Argentina, primarily Dr Marina Palermo, CONICET, Buenos Aires and Dr Angel Cataldi, Instituto de Biotecnología, Hurlingham. We have provided genomics and gene expression expertise to aid their analysis of argentinian E. coli O157 isolates.
Collaborator Contribution They have provided strains, immunological expertise and access to a mouse model to investigate Shiga toxin release and pathology
Impact manuscript as presented in main section. The partnering award allows me to travel to Argentina, present our work and initiate discussions with Dr Angel Cataldi at an institute separate from Conicet.
Start Year 2013