Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
My research focuses on developing an innovative bacteriophage (phage, virus of bacteria) technology to control bacterial zoonotic bacteria safely and effectively in humans and animals to complement other controls and surveillance strategies and to save lives. Conventional treatment of bacterial zoonoses has mainly focus on using antibiotics, but these pathogens are constantly evolving, and acquiring antimicrobial genes that are contributing to their success and spread. To effectively control these infections, a completely different mechanistic approach is needed to supplement antibiotics.
Phages are natural enemies of bacteria and have great advantages over antibiotics. They are easy to isolate and develop, can effectively target and kill antimicrobial resistant bacteria in biofilms (which are common in packaging and not easily accessible to antibiotics), safe on gut microbiome and amplify at infection sites ensuring continuous dose supply. Although discovered over a century ago, phages are gaining more recognition lately due to increased awareness. Thus, many phage preparations are being investigated for therapeutic usage in foods.
Therefore, my research would focus on important zoonotic pathogens such as E. coli O157, Salmonella enterica and Clostridium difficile and identify lytic phages which will target and kill representative prevalent serotypes/strains. Further work would focus on optimising phage cocktail based on their phage morphology, stability and genome content broaden clinical coverage and mitigate any resistance effects and determine the therapeutic potential of the cocktails in relevant infection models.
Knowledge gained here would direct further development of the phages for the control of E. coli O157 in food packaging.
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Network
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UK cattle abattoir AMR survey - PATH-SAFE/VMD
Tongue, S., Foster, G., Webster, C., Henry, M., Rodrigues da Costa, M., Stirling, J., Eze, J., Humphry, R., Nale, J. & Baughan, J.
1/01/23 → 31/01/24
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: SRUC-b6-1 Understanding The Diversity Of Stec And Its Relationship With Human Pathogenic Potential
Tongue, S., Webster, C., Baughan, J., Henry, M., Holden, N., Denniston, J. & Nale, J.
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: SRUC-a2-2 Zoonoses And Emerging Diseases.
Lawton, S., Whyte, F., Khattak, F., Baughan, J., Tongue, S., Boerlage, A., Galgano, S., Rodrigues da Costa, M., Khalid, Z., Denniston, J., Athanasiadou, S., Nale, J. & Landeryou, T.
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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Rapid Evidence Assessments - Assessment of practices to reduce post-weaning diarrhoea in pigs
Rodrigues da Costa, M., Nale, J., Botero Degiovanni, H. & Beechener, S.
27/06/22 → 11/11/22
Project: Research
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Evidence for Farming Initiative: Assessment of practices to reduce post-weaning diarrhoea in pigs without using zinc oxide
Rodrigues da Costa, M., Beechener, ES., Nale, JYN. & Botero Degiovanni, HB., 28 Feb 2023, Agricultural And Horticultural Development Board (AHDB). 124 p.Research output: Book/Report/Policy Brief/Technical Brief › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile46 Downloads (Pure) -
Removing zinc oxide from pig diets – what are the options? Podcast
Rodrigues da Costa, M., Botero Degiovanni, HB., Beechener, ES. & Nale, JYN., 28 Feb 2023Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products
Open Access -
All hope is not lost: development of a bacteriophage cocktail to control Salmonella biofilms under chicken, pig and human gut conditions
Nale, JYN., 2022.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
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Diversity, Dynamics and Therapeutic Application of Clostridioides difficile Bacteriophages
Nale, J. Y., Thanki, A. M., Rashid, S. J., Shan, J., Vinner, G. K., Dowah, A. S. A., Cheng, J. K. J., Sicheritz-Pontén, T. & Clokie, M. R. J., 12 Dec 2022, (First published) In: Viruses. 14, 12, 2772.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile10 Downloads (Pure) -
Therapeutic effects of oral administration of lytic Salmonella phages in a mouse model of non-typhoidal salmonellosis
Sukjoi, C., Buddhasiri, S., Tantibhadrasapa, A., Kaewsakhorn, T., Phothaworn, P., Nale, J. Y., Lopez-Garcia, A. V., AbuOun, M., Anjum, M. F., Malik, D. J., Galyov, E. E., Clokie, M. R. J., Korbsrisate, S. & Thiennimitr, P., 10 Oct 2022, (First published) In: Frontiers in Microbiology. 13, 955136.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)14 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
- 1 Participating in a conference, workshop, ...
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Pig Vet Society: Autumn meeting 2022
Maria Rodrigues da Costa (Participant) & Janet Nale (Participant)
16 Nov 2022 → 17 Nov 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participating in a conference, workshop, ...
Press/Media
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Scotland's Rural College looks at global link between animal and human diseases
21/11/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media