Researcher biographies
Dr Howard Jenkinson
Dr Howard Jenkinson is Professor and Chair of Oral Microbiology at the University of Bristol. His main research interests involve studies of the mechanisms by which microbes, principally oral bacteria and yeasts, adhere to and colonize host tissues.
His work has included molecular, genetic and biochemical analyses of surface protein adhesin function in oral streptococci, regulation of peptide uptake and divalent metal cation transport, and interactions between oral microorganisms.
Recently the focus of research has been on more detailed studies of streptococcal antigen I/II adhesin family proteins and their role in streptococcal adhesion and tissue invasion.
Professor Jenkinson completed his PhD in Applied Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Joel Mandelstam at the University of Oxford on the biochemistry and genetics of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. He moved to the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand as Lecturer in 1983 where he set up a research programme in molecular oral microbiology. He became Director of the Experimental Oral Biology Unit at Otago from 1992, and returned to the UK in 1997 when he was appointed to the Chair of Oral Microbiology at the University of Bristol.
Contact
Dr Howard Jenkinson
Oral Microbiology Unit
Department of Oral and Dental Science
University of Bristol Dental School
Lower Maudlin Street
Bristol BS1 2LY, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 4358
E-mail:
Howard.Jenkinson@bristol.ac.uk
Professor Charles Kelly
Charles Kelly is Professor of Oral Immunology at the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' (GKT) Dental Institute, King's College London. His main research interests include microbial adhesion particularly at mucosal surfaces and development of strategies to prevent adhesion. Together with colleagues, Tom Lehner and Julian Ma, at the GKT Dental Institute he has demonstrated that direct application to the teeth of a blocking peptide derived from streptococcal antigen I/II can prevent infection with Streptococcus mutans in humans.
Professor Kelly completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Bristol and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories and at the National Institute for Medical Research, both in London. He moved to the Immunology Department at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals (now merged with King's College London) as a Lecturer in 1988 and was appointed Professor of Oral Immunology in 2002.
Contact
Professor Charles Kelly
Immunology Unit
Department of Oral Medicine and Pathology
Floor 28 Guy's Tower
Guy's Hospital
London SE1 9RT, UK
Tel: 44 (0)20 7955 4966
Fax: 44 (0)20 7955 4455
E-mail:
charles.Kelly@kcl.ac.uk