Dr Matt Lloyd Jones
Telephone: +44(0)1326259478
College: College of Life and Environmental Sciences
Discipline: Biosciences
Department: Medical School
Research Centre/Unit: Environment and Sustainability Institute, Penryn, Falmouth
I am a microbial ecologist with an interest in the community ecology and evolution of bacteria, and translating this into practical interventions to reduce the burden of microbe-associated problems (e.g. antibiotic resistance) outside of the lab and computer screen!
My PhD research (in Tom Bell's lab at Silwood Park, Imperial College 2013-2017) focussed on the question of how microbes invade established communities of other microbes, using the 'tree hole' system of leaf-litter degrading microbial communities. For example, how does the number (Jones et al 2017), diversity (Rivett et al 2018) and evolution (Vila et al 2019) of invading species affect their invasion success? Conversely, how does the composition and functioning of the community being invaded limit the success of the invader (Jones et al forthcoming)?
My current postdoctoral research in Dr. Michiel Vos's lab at Exeter focuses on how microbes evolve antibiotic resistance in communities. Our key question is what ecological conditions promote the vertical evolution of resistance in a pathogen in a community, versus the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to it from the rest of the community.
As well as performing lab-based experimental evolution with sewage microbial communities, I am currently also working towards designing and testing everyday technological interventions for improved antimicrobial stewardship. I am currently speaking to nurses in Cornwall working on managing UTIs the care home setting, but also have interests in environmental antimicrobial stewarship (e.g. in agriculture). I would love to hear from you if this sounds interesting to you, whether you're a scientist, a clinician, a farmer, an anthropologist, economist etc (I'm still a geographer at heart)!
