Select campus:UKDubai
University of Birmingham
Menu

MicrobesNG joins the global fight against deadly childhood disease

The spin-out is joining a consortium to increase understanding of the scale of Shigella infections and the role of antibiotic resistance in seven countries.

10 December 2024
3d render of rod-shaped Shigella bacteria

Severe diarrhoeal disease caused by Shigella bacteria, claims an estimated 63,000 young lives annually

Spin-out MicrobesNG is joining a global consortium of scientists supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further understanding of the scale of Shigella infections and the role of antibiotic resistance in Malawi, Bangladesh, Mali, The Gambia, Kenya, Peru and Pakistan.

Every year nearly half a million (443,832) children under five are killed by diarrhoeal disease, making it the third leading cause of death in children globally1. Among these illnesses, shigellosis, a severe diarrhoeal disease caused by Shigella bacteria, claims an estimated 63,000 young lives annually.

Currently, there is no vaccine for Shigella. This, coupled with increasing antibiotic resistance (where the bug becomes resistant to the drugs that used for treatment) means there is a high death rate among children in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).

To tackle this pressing issue, the global consortium (The Enterics for Global Health) has been tasked with better understanding the scale of Shigella infections and the role of antibiotic resistance in the seven countries.

This project is a wonderful realisation of the hope I had in setting up MicrobesNG ten years ago; that any research team, anywhere in the world could access affordable, high-quality genomic sequencing for their work.

Professor Nick Loman, founder and Chief Scientific Officer at MicrobesNG

Sequencing company MicrobesNG, which was established ten years ago by Nick Loman, Professor of Microbial Genomics at the University of Birmingham, has been chosen to play a pivotal role in the project.

MicrobesNG will use advanced technology to sequence the DNA of the Shigella bacteria, enabling the international teams to decode this genetic information and better understand how to combat the disease.

With this data, and with support from Professor Kate Baker at the University of Cambridge and Dr Jennifer Cornick at the University of Liverpool, the teams will identify genetic variants of Shigella strains from more than 1200 children and track its transmission. Ultimately the results will be crucial for developing Shigella vaccination plans, which could hugely reduce the incidence of the disease and impact the rates of antimicrobial resistance.

Professor Kate Baker, Chair in Applied Microbial Genomics University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Health Security Agency, Principal investigator on the molecular project said: “Shigella have been a leading cause of diarrheal disease for over a century and now we are finally able to focus our research in the regions where the most disease occurs. This study will give us the information we need to find new ways to tackle this old disease. By working together across borders we can understand the genetic variants of Shigella that are causing disease, track transmission and help shape vaccination programs. Just like with COVID-19, understanding genetic changes over time is crucial for tracking spread of disease. MicrobesNG is an incredible partner for the group and has allowed us to work together across borders.”

Shigella have been a leading cause of diarrheal disease for over a century and now we are finally able to focus our research in the regions where the most disease occurs.

Professor Kate Baker, Chair in Applied Microbial Genomics University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Health Security Agency, Principal Investigator on the project

Dr Jennifer Cornick, University of Liverpool, co-Principal investigator and Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme site-lead said: "As part of the work we will be working with scientists across the countries to empower them to analyse and interpret the data themselves, providing information to help shape healthcare delivery and policy. It’s important to remember that each of these strains comes from sick children and ultimately this data will improve the treatment outcomes on the ground.”

Professor Nick Loman, founder and Chief Scientific Officer at MicrobesNG, a pioneer of genome sequencing, explained: “Genome sequencing is a very exciting and rapidly evolving field. In this instance, we are extracting information from the genetic code to help fight a deadly disease. This project is a wonderful realisation of the hope I had in setting up MicrobesNG ten years ago; that any research team, anywhere in the world could access affordable, high-quality genomic sequencing for their work. This will give Professor Baker, Dr Cornick, and the team the vital information needed to reduce the burden of this horrible childhood disease.”

Dr. Patricia Pavlinac, University of Washington, Seattle, US, Coordinating Principle Investigator of EFGH added: “The EFGH study represents an important partnership among researchers around the world working together towards a common goal of averting Shigella disease. Equipped with Shigella sequencing data from MicrobesNG and training in the analysis and interpretation this sub study is positioned to make a huge impact in our understanding of shigellosis worldwide.”

Notes for editors

About the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, and its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from nearly 150 countries.
University of Birmingham Enterprise helps researchers turn their ideas into new services, products and enterprises that meet real-world needs. We also provide incubation, and support innovators and entrepreneurs with mentoring, advice, and training, manage the University’s Academic Consultancy Service, and University of Birmingham Enterprise Operating Divisions. Follow us on LinkedIn and X.

About MicrobesNG
MicrobesNG is a specialised microbial whole genome sequencing company based at the BioHub Birmingham®, bio-incubator based on the University of Birmingham campus. Over the last ten years Microbes NG has grown rapidly, providing its highly accessible and affordable services to customers in more than 40 countries around the world.

About The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) network
The international team of scientists from The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi and Pakistan, Peru, Mali, Bangladesh are part of the The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) network which is a Shigella surveillance study

Reference
1.World Health Organization factsheet: Diarrhoeal disease. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diarrhoeal-disease

 

Featured staff

  • Professor Nick Loman

    Professor of Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics

    Professor Loman works as an Independent Research Fellow in the Institute for Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham, sponsored by a seven-year MRC Fellowship in Microbial Genomics Bioinformatics.

    Phone: +44 (0)121 4145 421
    Email: n.j.loman@bham.ac.uk

More in Health & medicine