Professor Darren Smith

Professor

Department: Applied Sciences

Darren Smith is a Professor of Bacteriophage Biology within the Department of Applied Biology, Cellular and Molecular Sciences/Microbiology Group. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BSc in Microbiology in 2000. After a 1.5 years working at Applied Biosystems he spent the following 7.5 years completing both a PhD (2005) and Post-Doctoral research in the laboratory of Alan McCarthy, Heather Allison and Jon Saunders studying the biology of Shiga toxin encoding bacteriophages.

Prior to joining Northumbria University, Dr Smith worked as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Andrew Owen’s, University of Liverpool HIV pharmacology group in collaboration with Professor Steve Rannard focussing the impact of nanoformulation on highly active antiretroviral therapy drugs used in the treatment of HIV infection. These studies included drug delivery, cellular accumulation and transcellular gut permeability models.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

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 Northumbria University, NU-OMICS. This is an outfacing service that is linked to both academic and industrially linked DNA sequencing projects.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
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

PGR Supervision

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