Professor Robert Heyderman

Head, Research Department of Infection
Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health

About

Research in Professor Heyderman's lab focuses on the basic biology, epidemiology and prevention of disease caused by mucosal pathogens of public health importance.

Research summary

Professor Robert Heyderman is a clinician scientist whose work bridges clinical practice, disease prevention and the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of infectious disease. He has established a Mucosal Pathogens Research Group at UCL whose research in the UK and Africa addresses the microbial and immunological basis of severe infection caused by mucosal pathogens and their prevention through vaccination; the regulation of inflammation; and the diagnosis and management of meningitis and sepsis. He is the Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens (MPRU), which is an interdisciplinary translational partnership that brings together internationally recognised UK and African investigators to tackle limitations in the long-term effectiveness of existing vaccines to prevent meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis through new approaches to interrupting mucosal pathogen carriage/transmission. His research at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Programme (www.mlw.mw) combines internationally-leading science and research training to improve the health of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Selected publications

• Weight C, Venturini C, Pojar S, Jochems SP, Reiné J, Nikolaou E, Noursadeghi M, Brown JS, Ferreira DM, Heyderman RS. Microinvasion by Streptococcus pneumoniae induces epithelial innate immunity during colonisation at the human mucosal surface. Nat Commun. 2019;10:3060
• Iroh Tam PY, Musicha P, Kawaza K, Cornick J, Denis B, Freyne B, Everett D, Dube Q, French N, Feasey N, Heyderman R. Emerging resistance to empiric antimicrobial regimens for pediatric bloodstream infections in Malawi (1998-2017). Clin Infect Dis. 2019;69:61-68
• Ho A, Aston SJ, Jary H, Mitchell T, Alaerts M, Menyere M, Mallewa J, Nyirenda M, Everett D, Heyderman RS, French N. Impact of HIV on the burden and severity of influenza illness in Malawian adults: a prospective cohort and parallel case-control study. Clin Infect Dis. 2018;66:865-76 [joint last author]
• Heyderman RS, Madhi SA, French N, Cutland C, Ngwira B, Kayambo D, Mboizi R, Koen A, Jose L, Olugbosi M, Wittke F, Slobod K, Dull PM. Group B streptococcus vaccination in pregnant women with or without HIV in Africa: a non-randomised phase 2, open-label, multicentre trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2016;16:546-55
• Anderson ST, Kaforou M, Brent AJ, Wright VJ, Banwell CM, Chagaluka G, Crampin AC, Dockrell HM, French N, Hamilton MS, Hibberd ML, Kern F, Langford PR, Ling L, Mlotha R, Ottenhoff THM, Pienaar S, Pillay V, Scott JAG, Twahir H, Wilkinson RJ, Coin LJ, Heyderman RS, Levin M, Eley B on behalf of the ILULU consortium and KIDS TB Study Group. Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis and host RNA expression in Africa. N Engl J Med. 2014;370:1712-1723
• Feasey NA, Gaskell K, Wong V, Msefula C, Selemani G, Kumwenda S, Allain TJ, Mallewa J, Kennedy N, Bennett A, Nyirongo JO, Nyondo PA, Zulu MD, Parkhill J, Dougan G, Gordon MA, Heyderman RS. Rapid emergence of multidrug resistant, h58-lineage salmonella typhi in Blantyre, Malawi. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015;9:e0003748
• Moxon CA, Wassmer SC, Milner DA, Jr., Chisala NV, Taylor TE, Seydel KB, Molyneux ME, Faragher B, Esmon CT, Downey C, Toh CH, Craig AG, Heyderman RS. Loss of endothelial protein C receptors links coagulation and inflammation to parasite sequestration in cerebral malaria in African children. Blood. 2013;122:842-51
• Glennie SJ, Banda D, Gould K, Hinds J, Kamngona A, Everett, D, Williams NA, Heyderman RS. Defective pneumococcal-specific Th1 responses in HIV-infected adults precedes a loss of control of pneumococcal colonization. Clin Infect Dis. 2012;56:291-299 
• Kingsley RA, Msefula CL, Thomson NR, Kariuki S, Holt KE, Gordon MA, Harris D, Clarke L, Whitehead S, Sangal V, Marsh K, Achtman M, Molyneux ME, Cormican M, Parkhill J, MacLennan CA, Heyderman RS, Dougan G. Epidemic multiple drug resistant Salmonella Typhimurium causing invasive disease in sub-Saharan Africa have a distinct genotype. Genome Res. 2009;19:2279-87
• Feasey NA, Hadfield J, Keddy KH, Dallman TJ, Jacobs J, Deng X, Wigley P, Barquist Barquist L, Langridge GC, Feltwell T, Harris SR, Mather AE, Fookes M, Aslett M, Msefula C, Kariuki S, Maclennan CA, Onsare RS, Weill FX, Le Hello S, Smith AM, McClelland M, Desai P, Parry CM, Cheesbrough J, French N, Campos J, Chabalgoity JA, Betancor L, Hopkins KL, Nair S, Humphrey TJ, Lunguya O, Cogan TA, Tapia MD, Sow SO, Tennant SM, Bornstein K, Levine MM, Lacharme-Lora L, Everett DB, Kingsley RA, Parkhill J, Heyderman RS, Dougan G, Gordon MA, Thomson NR. Distinct Salmonella Enteritidis lineages associated with enterocolitis in high-income settings and invasive disease in low-income settings. Nat Genet. 2016;48:1211-7.

A full list of publications can be accessed via Google Scholar.