Professor Tim McHugh

Director, Centre for Clinical Microbiology (CCM)
Professor of Medical Microbiology

About

Research in the Centre for Clinical Microbiology (CCM) focusses on the improved diagnosis and treatment of microbial infections with particular reference to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.

Research summary

The work of CCM has an emphasis on respiratory infection with studies on the microbiome and resistome in patients with chronic lung disease such as COPD. A significant element of the CCMs work is to contribute to all stages of the TB drug development pathway with projects on evaluation of new compounds as well as supporting the laboratory aspects of phase II and III clinical trials. An underlying theme is the development of biomarkers of treatment outcome, whether transcriptomic analysis of in vitro treatments or the more complex picture of monitoring outcome in patients.

An important element of the work of CCM is capacity development, we provide training for laboratory scientists both on site and in London participating in several networks designed to enhance skills in microbiology laboratories. A recent collaboration is with colleagues in the Bartlett to develop the Biosafety Design Initiative, which undertakes training and research focussed on reducing transmission of infections in the built environment.

Selected publications

• Danquah CA, Kakagianni E, Khondkar P, Maitra A, Rahman M, Evangelopoulos D, McHugh TD, Stapleton P, Malkinson J, Bhakta S, Gibbons S. Analogues of Disulfides from Allium stipitatum Demonstrate Potent Anti-tubercular Activities through Drug Efflux Pump and Biofilm Inhibition. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):1150
• Phillips PPJ, Mendel CM, Nunn AJ, McHugh TD, Crook AM, Hunt R, Bateson A, Gillespie SH. A comparison of liquid and solid culture for determining relapse and durable cure in phase III TB trials for new regimens. BMC Med. 2017;15(1):207 Phillips PPJ, Mendel CM, Nunn AJ, McHugh TD, Crook AM, Hunt R, Bateson A, Gillespie SH. A comparison of liquid and solid culture for determining relapse and durable cure in phase III TB trials for new regimens. BMC Med. 2017;15(1):207
• Murphy ME, Phillips PPJ, Mendel CM, Bongard E, Bateson ALC, Hunt R, Murthy S, Singh KP, Brown M, Crook AM, Nunn AJ, Meredith SK, Lipman M, McHugh TD, Gillespie SH; REMoxTB Consortium. Spot sputum samples are at least as good as early morning samples for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis. BMC Med. 2017;15(1):192
• de Knegt GJ, Dickinson L, Pertinez H, Evangelopoulos D, McHugh TD, Bakker-Woudenberg IAJM, Davies GR, de Steenwinkel JEM. Assessment of treatment response by colony forming units, time to culture positivity and the molecular bacterial load assay compared in a mouse tuberculosis model. Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2017;105:113-118
• Witney AA, Bateson AL, Jindani A, Phillips PP, Coleman D, Stoker NG, Butcher PD, McHugh TD; RIFAQUIN Study Team. Use of whole-genome sequencing to distinguish relapse from reinfection in a completed tuberculosis clinical trial. BMC Med. 2017;15(1):71
• Satta G, Witney AA, Shorten RJ, Karlikowska M, Lipman M, McHugh TD. Genetic variation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from a London outbreak associated with isoniazid resistance. BMC Med. 2016;14(1):117
• Devonshire AS, O'Sullivan DM, Honeyborne I, Jones G, Karczmarczyk M, Pavšič J, Gutteridge A, Milavec M, Mendoza P, Schimmel H, Van Heuverswyn F, Gorton R, Cirillo DM, Borroni E, Harris K, Barnard M, Heydenrych A, Ndusilo N, Wallis CL, Pillay K, Barry T, Reddington K, Richter E, Mozioğlu E, Akyürek S, Yalçınkaya B, Akgoz M, Žel J, Foy CA, McHugh TD, Huggett JF. The use of digital PCR to improve the application of quantitative molecular diagnostic methods for tuberculosis. BMC Infect Dis. 2016;16:366
• Honeyborne I, McHugh TD, Kuittinen I, Cichonska A, Evangelopoulos D, Ronacher K, van Helden PD, Gillespie SH, Fernandez-Reyes D, Walzl G, Rousu J, Butcher PD, Waddell SJ. Profiling persistent tubercule bacilli from patient sputa during therapy predicts early drug efficacy. BMC Med. 2016;14:68
• Bhakta S, Scalacci N, Maitra A, Brown AK, Dasugari S, Evangelopoulos D, McHugh TD, Mortazavi PN, Twist A, Petricci E, Manetti F, Castagnolo D. Design and Synthesis of 1-((1,5-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2-methyl-1H-pyrrol-3-yl)methyl)-4-methylpiperazine (BM212) and N-Adamantan-2-yl-N'-((E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienyl)ethane-1,2-diamine (SQ109) Pyrrole Hybrid Derivatives: Discovery of Potent Antitubercular Agents Effective against Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacteria. J Med Chem. 2016;59(6):2780-93
• Yates TA, Khan PY, Knight GM, Taylor JG, McHugh TD, Lipman M, White RG, Cohen T, Cobelens FG, Wood R, Moore DA, Abubakar I. The transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in high burden settings. Lancet Infect Dis. 2016;16(2):227-38
• Jeeves RE, Marriott AA, Pullan ST, Hatch KA, Allnutt JC, Freire-Martin I, Hendon-Dunn CL, Watson R, Witney AA, Tyler RH, Arnold C, Marsh PD, McHugh TD, Bacon J. Mycobacterium tuberculosis Is Resistant to Isoniazid at a Slow Growth Rate by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in katG Codon Ser315. PLoS One. 2015;10(9):e0138253
• Boeree MJ, Diacon AH, Dawson R, Narunsky K, du Bois J, Venter A, Phillips PP, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD, Hoelscher M, Heinrich N, Rehal S, van Soolingen D, van Ingen J, Magis-Escurra C, Burger D, Plemper van Balen G, Aarnoutse RE. A Step toward an Optimized Rifampin Dose Completed. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;192(4):525-6
• Brill SE, Law M, El-Emir E, Allinson JP, James P, Maddox V, Donaldson GC, McHugh TD, Cookson WO, Moffatt MF, Nazareth I, Hurst JR, Calverley PM, Sweeting MJ, Wedzicha JA. Effects of different antibiotic classes on airway bacteria in stable COPD using culture and molecular techniques: a randomised controlled trial. Thorax. 2015;70(10):930-8
• Nimmo C, Capocci S, Honeyborne I, Brown J, Sewell J, Thurston S, Johnson M, McHugh TD, Lipman M. Airway bacteria and respiratory symptoms are common in ambulatory HIV-positive UK adults. Eur Respir J. 2015;46(4):1208-11
• Brown AC, Bryant JM, Einer-Jensen K, Holdstock J, Houniet DT, Chan JZ, Depledge DP, Nikolayevskyy V, Broda A, Stone MJ, Christiansen MT, Williams R, McAndrew MB, Tutill H, Brown J, Melzer M, Rosmarin C, McHugh TD, Shorten RJ, Drobniewski F, Speight G, Breuer J. Rapid Whole-Genome Sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates Directly from Clinical Samples. J Clin Microbiol. 2015;53(7):2230-7
• Mears J, Vynnycky E, Lord J, Borgdorff MW, Cohen T, Crisp D, Innes JA, Lilley M, Maguire H, McHugh TD, Woltmann G, Abubakar I, Sonnenberg P. The prospective evaluation of the TB strain typing service in England: a mixed methods study. Thorax. 2016;71(8):734-41
• Honeyborne I, Lipman MC, Eckold C, Evangelopoulos D, Gillespie SH, Pym A, McHugh TD. Effective anti-tuberculosis therapy correlates with plasma small RNA. Eur Respir J. 2015;45(6):1741-4
• Boeree MJ, Diacon AH, Dawson R, Narunsky K, du Bois J, Venter A, Phillips PP, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD, Hoelscher M, Heinrich N, Rehal S, van Soolingen D, van Ingen J, Magis-Escurra C, Burger D, Plemper van Balen G, Aarnoutse RE; PanACEA Consortium. A dose-ranging trial to optimize the dose of rifampin in the treatment of tuberculosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;191(9):1058-65
• Devonshire AS, Honeyborne I, Gutteridge A, Whale AS, Nixon G, Wilson P, Jones G, McHugh TD, Foy CA, Huggett JF. Highly reproducible absolute quantification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex by digital PCR. Anal Chem. 2015;87(7):3706-13
• Gillespie SH, Ling CL, Oravcova K, Pinheiro M, Wells L, Bryant JM, McHugh TD, Bébéar C, Webster D, Harris SR, Seth-Smith HM, Thomson NR. Genomic Investigations unmask Mycoplasma amphoriforme, a new respiratory pathogen. Clin Infect Dis. 2015;60(3):381-8
• Jindani A, Harrison TS, Nunn AJ, Phillips PP, Churchyard GJ, Charalambous S, Hatherill M, Geldenhuys H, McIlleron HM, Zvada SP, Mungofa S, Shah NA, Zizhou S, Magweta L, Shepherd J, Nyirenda S, van Dijk JH, Clouting HE, Coleman D, Bateson AL, McHugh TD, Butcher PD, Mitchison DA; RIFAQUIN Trial Team. High-dose rifapentine with moxifloxacin for pulmonary tuberculosis. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(17):1599-608
• Gillespie SH, Crook AM, McHugh TD, Mendel CM, Meredith SK, Murray SR, Pappas F, Phillips PP, Nunn AJ; REMoxTB Consortium. Four-month moxifloxacin-based regimens for drug-sensitive tuberculosis. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(17):1577-87
• Bhatti M, McHugh TD, Milanesi L, Tomas S. Self-assembled nanoparticles as multifunctional drugs for anti-microbial therapies. Chem Commun (Camb). 2014;50(57):7649-51
• Honeyborne I, Mtafya B, Phillips PP, Hoelscher M, Ntinginya EN, Kohlenberg A, Rachow A, Rojas-Ponce G, McHugh TD, Heinrich N; Pan African Consortium for the Evaluation of Anti-tuberculosis Antibiotics. The molecular bacterial load assay replaces solid culture for measuring early bactericidal response to antituberculosis treatment. J Clin Microbiol. 2014;52(8):3064-7
• Bryant JM, Harris SR, Parkhill J, Dawson R, Diacon AH, van Helden P, Pym A, Mahayiddin AA, Chuchottaworn C, Sanne IM, Louw C, Boeree MJ, Hoelscher M, McHugh TD, Bateson AL, Hunt RD, Mwaigwisya S, Wright L, Gillespie SH, Bentley SD. Whole-genome sequencing to establish relapse or re-infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a retrospective observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2013;1(10):786-92.