Dr Michael J Cox

• PhD in Marine Microbial Ecology, University of Warwick and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, 2005
• BSc (Hons) Microbiology with Intercalated Year, University of Warwick, 2001

Dr Cox joined the Institute of Microbiology and Infection in 2019 and established the Respiratory Microbiome Group to study the interactions between bacterial communities in the respiratory tract and respiratory disease.

He began his scientific career in marine microbial ecology, working on the relationship between microbial communities in seawater and trace atmospheric gases during his PhD at the University of Warwick and Plymouth Marine Laboratory.  This was followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Liverpool on polysaccharide degrading marine bacteria. In 2008 Dr Cox took the opportunity to change direction with a visiting fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, applying microbial ecology techniques to a polymicrobial infection in the lungs of people with Cystic Fibrosis.  In 2010 he moved to the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, expanding to a wider range of lung diseases with Professor Miriam Moffatt and Professor Bill Cookson.

Dr Cox supports teaching in the Institute through lectures, small group teaching, and practical sessions

• Module Organiser – MSc Genomic Medicine - Applied Genomics and Infectious Disease
• Module Organiser – MSc Microbiology and Infection – Core Concepts and Skills in Microbiology
• Biomedical Sciences – Immunity and Infection
• Biomedical Sciences – Bacterial Threats and Defence

Dr Cox hosts project and dissertation students from various undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes and these can be wet lab or bioinformatics based projects.

Dr Cox currently supervises or co-supervises a number of students with respiratory microbiome components to their projects. He has supervised 6 PhD students to completion, including both fundamental science based and clinical based projects. He is always interested in hearing from potential PhD students who want to explore the respiratory microbiome and its impact on disease.  You can contact Mike by email.

Dr Cox's research focuses on:

• Using microbial ecology to understand the function of the respiratory microbiome
• Translating microbiome research for clinical benefit in respiratory diseases
• Expanding our understanding of the respiratory microbiome beyond bacteria to other groups of microorganisms

Dr Cox collaborates with the Birmingham Acute Care Research Group and with clinical researchers in the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the Birmingham Women and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

Roles:

• Editor Microbial Genomics from 2020
• Editor FEMS Microbiology Letters from 2015-2020
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the NIHR/Wellcome Clinical Research Facility for Birmingham Health Partners from 2019

Membership of Scientific Societies:

• Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM)
• European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID)
• European Respiratory Society (ERS)
• British Association of Lung Research (BALR)