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School of Veterinary Medicine and Science
   
   
  
 

Paul Barrow

Professor of Veterinary Infectious Diseases - Sub Dean of Research & Business, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Contact

  • workRoom C24 Veterinary Academic Building
    Sutton Bonington Campus
    Sutton Bonington
    Leicestershire
    LE12 5RD
    UK
  • work0115 951 6428
  • fax0115 951 6440

Biography

Paul Barrow obtained a BSc (Hons) in Medical Microbiology from the University of Bristol. He carried out post-graduate research at the National Institute for Research in Dairying, obtaining a PhD from the University of Reading in 1978. He then spent two years as a post-doctoral research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A year carrying out research at Unilever Research, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire preceded his joining the avian Salmonella group at Houghton Poultry Research Station, Cambridgeshire in 1981. He headed the Zoonoses group at the Institute for Animal Health, Compton Laboratory in 1991. He joined the newly formed School of Veterinary Medicine and Science in 2006. He obtained his DSc from the University of Bristol in 1997.

Expertise Summary

Paul Barrow is a Research Professor. He holds a visiting chair in the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Bristol. He represents the school on the University Research Committee, and the Research Strategy committees for Biomedical Sciences and Food, Agriculture, Veterinary, Environment and Rural Affairs (FAVER). He was First Houghton Lecturer in 1993.He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists.

Research Summary

I lead a very active research group which studies and exploits host-pathogen interactions in Salmonella enterica infections in poultry and pigs. We use genomic and post-genomic approaches, including… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

I lead a very active research group which studies and exploits host-pathogen interactions in Salmonella enterica infections in poultry and pigs. We use genomic and post-genomic approaches, including host and pathogen microarray and proteomic analysis. We apply these findings to control infection and disease in food animals and also use these infections as models of human disease. We collaborate extensively with other organisations and universities, particularly the Sanger Institute and Universities of Bristol and Glasgow (genome sequencing) and the Institute for Animal Health and the University of Cambridge (immunity). We have an extensive network of European collaborators, funded under FP5 and 6 and collaborators in Brazil, China and the US. The information we generate has been used by the UK government and EU Commission to determine policy related to food borne zoonoses.

Virulence determinants of Salmonella and Campylobacter

We commissioned full genome sequencing of S. Enteritidis, S. Gallinarum, S. Infantis, and S. Hadar in addition to other serovars (www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/salmonella) . This information being is used to determine serovar specific determinants of infection (SPI, fimbriae) which can then be studied in greater depth to ascertain their role in infection (with M. Jones)

We are particularly interested in how organisms such as Salmonella and Campylobacter colonise the alimentary tract of food animals since this is an essential step in carcass contamination. We produced a whole genome ORF microarray of S. Typhimurium for this purpose and are using it to determine the effect of the in vivo environment on patterns of genome expression. We have also done similar studies with C. jejuni (17). This work is being used to support earlier studies in which the colonisation phenotype of transposon-induced mutants has been determined (10, 12). We also have an interest in how micro-organisms and pathogens obtain their energy under the physiological and redox conditions prevalent in vivo (9, 11).

Adaptive immunity to Salmonella in chickens

With colleagues at the University of Cambridge and Institute for Animal Health (IAH), we have been studying the early stages of S. Typhimurium infection in young chickens (16) and the essential components to immune clearance. We have shown, for example that following surgical bursectomy B cells are not essential for immune clearance from the intestine (3). We have a particular interest in the manner in which certain Salmonella serovars, such as S. Pullorum, in chickens modulate the immune response to create a carrier state in which small numbers of bacteria persist in the spleen over many weeks without immune clearance (14). At onset of sexual maturity circulating sex hormones reduce the capacity of T lymphocytes to respond specifically and non-specifically to various antigens, including the pathogen itself (15). This is a good model for S. Typhi in man and S. Dublin in cattle.

We have shown that C. jejuni in chickens is able to stimulate an immune response and now week to explore in more detail the interaction between this pathogen and the host and whether we can protect by vaccination. (with M. Jones)

Innate responses to infection in pigs and chickens

Although germ free pigs are highly susceptible to oral S. Typhimurium infection, with an acute enteritis, oral pre-infection just 24 hours previously with a non-virulent S. Infantis allows the S. Typhimurium to colonise but there is no clinical disease. This is the result of neutrophil activation and diapedesis in the intestine (6, 7). (with N. Foster)

We are interested in the immunomodulating effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide in down-regulating inflammatory responses to infection (5). (with N. Foster)

We have also begun to investigate how the intestine of animals responds to infection by secretion of cationic antimicrobial peptides (defensins). There is some evidence for the ability of some Salmonella serovars to modulate the response. This may be the basis for differences in susceptibility to intestinal infection in in-bred lines of chicken to S. enterica and C. jejuni. The phenotype is heritable in a Mendelian fashion and the SAL1 locus accounts for more than 40% of the increased-resistance (1, 4). The strong induction of pro-inflammatory chemokines by S. Typhimurium has also been demonstrated using a chicken immune gene microarray. (with M. Jones and J. Young and P. Kaiser, IAH)

Novel approaches to infection control

We have shown that oral administration of live vaccines to newly-hatched chickens or germ free pigs has additional benefits other than the induction of an adaptive immune response (13). Apart from the induction of intestinal defensin activity and neutrophil activity described above, we have shown that colonisation by the vaccine results in a profound colonisation-resistance phenotype, similar to competitive exclusion normally attributed to gut flora preparations. This phenomenon is related to competition for nutrients under the redox conditions prevalent in the gut. It has enormous practical potential (18).

We have been one of the key laboratories involved in exploring the use of bacteriophages for infection control. Acquiring the interest from working with H. Williams Smith who re-established interest in the west in the 1980s, we have shown them to be effective against E. coli infections of chickens and colostrum deprived calves (2) and have shown it to be particularly effective for carcass decontamination (8). (with I. Connerton, C. Dodd, School of Biosciences and University of Bristol)



School of Veterinary Medicine and Science

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Leicestershire, LE12 5RD

telephone: +44 (0)115 951 6116
fax: +44 (0)115 951 6415
email: veterinary-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk