Dr Simon Bridge

Assistant Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

Simon Bridge Staffprofile Northumbriauniversity255

Simon is a viral immunologist who has worked in the field of virology and immunology since 1999 and gained considerable experience in academia, industry and the National Health Service. He trained in Immunology & Virology at Bristol University, Liverpool University, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His PhD studies were supervised by Dr Tom Blanchard, the primary aim of his research work was to devise heterologous prime-boost-boost vaccines that would provide protection against HIV-1 by eliciting high titres of broadly reactive neutralising antibodies (Bridge et al., 2011a).

Simon returned to Newcastle University in 2006 for his postdoctoral research and worked in the laboratory of Professors Geoffrey Toms and Margaret Bassendine, and Dr Dermot Neely. His research focused on the association of hepatitis C virus (HCV) with very- and low-density lipoproteins (VLDL/LDL) in the blood of infected patient’s and to examine the metabolic factors, which influence this (Felmlee et al., 2010; Bridge et al., 2011b; Sheridan et al., 2012; Sheridan et al., 2014a, Bridge et al., 2015). This work culminated in a clinical trial investigating whether statins and n3 fatty acids reduced viral loads and the quantity of virus associated with LDL (Sheridan et al., 2014b).

In September 2015, Simon was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Virology and Viral Immunology following a 3 year, Anniversary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences at Northumbria University. Simon maintains an active research interest in viral hepatitis and is particularly interested in the role of HCV in triggering atherosclerosis (Bridge et al., 2018). He is also interested in the role of the microbial communities in cardiovascular & pulmonary disease, inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune liver disease.

Campus Address

Ellison building

Email Simon

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Autoantibodies to apolipoprotein A-I in hepatitis C virus infection: a role in disease progression?, Bridge, S., Pagano, S., Lodge, J., Shawa, I., Marin-Crespo, P., Cramp, M., Sheridan, D., Taylor-Robinson, S., Vuilleumier, N., Neely, R., Bassendine, M. 20 Mar 2025, In: Frontiers in Immunology
The core phageome and its interrelationship with preterm human milk lipids, Yew, W., Young, G., Nelson, A., Cheung, W., Stewart, C., Bridge, S., Granger, C., Berrington, J., Embleton, N., Smith, D. 28 Nov 2023, In: Cell Reports
Infection with the hepatitis C virus causes viral genotype-specific differences in cholesterol metabolism and hepatic steatosis, Sheridan, D., Shawa, I., Thomas, E., Felmlee, D., Bridge, S., Neely, D., Cobbold, J., Holmes, E., Bassendine, M., Taylor-Robinson, S. Dec 2022, In: Scientific Reports
Optimisation and application of a novel method to identify bacteriophage in maternal milk and infant stool identifies host-phage communities within preterm infant gut, Young, G., Yew, W., Nelson, A., Bridge, S., Berrington, J., Embleton, N., Smith, D. 26 Apr 2022, In: Frontiers in Pediatrics
Revisiting the Elusive Hepatitis C Vaccine, Todryk, S., Bassendine, M., Bridge, S. 2 Feb 2021, In: Vaccines
The Impact of NOD2 Genetic Variants on the Gut Mycobiota in Crohn’s Disease Patients in Remission and in Individuals Without Gastrointestinal Inflammation, Nelson, A., Stewart, C., Kennedy, N., Lodge, J., Tremelling, M., Probert, C., Parkes, M., Mansfield, J., Smith, D., Hold, G., Lees, C., Bridge, S., Lamb, C. 1 May 2021, In: Journal of Crohn's and Colitis
Covid‐19 and co‐morbidities: a role for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 (DPP4) in disease severity?, Bassendine, M., Bridge, S., McCaughan, G., Gorrell, M. 1 Sep 2020, In: Journal of Diabetes
Relapse of polymyalgia rheumatica following adjuvanted influenza vaccine: A case-based review, Bassendine, M., Bridge, S. 14 Jan 2020, In: European Journal of Rheumatology
SAT-221-Autoantibodies to apolipoprotein A1 (apoA-1): A new prognostic biomarker of HCV infection, Pagano, S., Sheridan, D., Bridge, S., Shawa, I., Cramp, M., Taylor-Robinson, S., Neely, R., Vuilleumier, N., Bassendine, M. Apr 2019, International Liver Congress 2019
Temperate bacteriophages from chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections show disease-specific changes in host range and modulate antimicrobial susceptibility, Tariq, M., Everest, F., Cowley, L., Wright, R., Holt, G., Ingram, H., Duignan, L., Nelson, A., Lanyon, C., Perry, A., Perry, J., Bourke, S., Brockhurst, M., Bridge, S., de Soyza, A., Smith, D. 27 Aug 2019, In: mSystems