Clare Taylor
Clare Taylor

Dr Clare Taylor

Senior Lecturer

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology in the School of Applied Sciences. I am an active academic citizen supporting colleagues to embed inclusive professional practice in microbiology and life sciences.

Research
Main areas of focus:
1. Understanding host-pathogen interactions of the intracellular bacteria Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes, with a view to developing novel microbial diagnostic tools and designing novel approaches to antimicrobial therapy.
2. I also work with internal and external colleagues to understand and exploit the role of different bacteria, and infection, relevant to human health.
3. Equality & Diversity in Life Sciences

Public Engagement
I am passionate about engaging people with research in microbiology especially on topics related to public health including vaccination and antibiotic resistance. I have performed on these topics at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and have taken part in a range of different activities to diverse audiences.

Academic Leadership
Within School of Applied Sciences I am Head of Equality and Inclusion and work with colleagues across the School to develop Inclusive Practice. I also School Head of Public Engagement with Research.

Themes

News

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Appointed Board Member and Trustee of Scottish Policy & Research Exchange (SPRE)
  • Invited member of Challenge Panel for BEIS/UKRI Review of Research Bureacracy
  • Invited member of Advisory Board of UKRI Future Leader Fellowships Development Network
  • Invited expert - All Party Parliamentary Group roundtable - How does UK Government advance and inhibit equity and inclusive cultures within the STEM workforce?
  • Invited expert - Roundtable for UK R&D Roadmap - R&D People and Culture Strategy
  • Invited contributor - Scottish stakeholder roundtable with UKRI CEO Dame Ottoline Leyser
  • Invited expert - All Party Parliamentary Group roundtable - Equity in STEM education - where now?
  • Invited expert - BAME Roundtable for First Minister's Advisory Council on Women & Girls
  • Member Royal Society of Biology Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Group
  • Invited expert - Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Roundtable on UK-Canada Microbiome research

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Invited Member of Organising Committee FEMS Congress 2023
  • Invited panel member - Race Equity Networks. Panel session at EDIS Symposium 2021
  • Invited member Organising Committee World Microbiology Forum 2021 (Joint virtual meeting of Federation of European Microbiology Societies and American Society for Microbiology
  • Invited Chair - SfAM workshop: Poster lightning talks at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Invited chair - STEM in Africa panel session at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Member of Organising Committee FEMS Congress 2021
  • Invited chair - LGBT+ in STEM panel session at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Invited Chair - Symposium: Exploiting bacteria for biomedical applications at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Conference Organizer - Applications of Plant Pathology: From Field to Clinic
  • Member of Programme Committee - FEMS Congress 2019
  • Invited Meeting Chair - Antimicrobial Resistance: Novel Therapeutics and Drug Discovery, London, UK

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editor (Medical Microbiology) for All Life journal
  • Editorial Board Member Fine Focus Journal
  • Features Editor Microbiologist magazine

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner, Undergraduate Microbiology, University of Bradford

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Beltane Public Engagement Fellowship
  • Fellow – Higher Education Academy
  • Scottish Crucible Fellowship

 

Grant Funding Panel Member

  • Society for Applied Microbiology Grants Panel
  • British Council Researcher Links/Newton Fund

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Invited grant reviewer NERC
  • Invited grant reviewer MRC
  • Invited grant reviewer BBSRC
  • Invited grant reviewer - Wellcome Trust

 

Invited Speaker

  • Chair & speaker - What you need to know about science policy at SfAM, Webinar
  • Preparing a paper presenting results of multidisciplinary research - Webinar for All Life journal. Sponsored by the School of Public Health of Nanjing Medical University, China
  • Exploiting intracellular bacteria for medical biotechnology at FEMS Congress 2019
  • From Roots to Routes: Disrupting the Status-Quo at Engage 2019 Public Engagement Conference
  • Invited Panel Member - Intersectionality in STEM, Equate Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
  • Invited Panel Member - Too much evidence or not enough? Evidence week, UK parliament
  • Invited speaker - The Antimicrobial Crisis: #AlternativeFact or #ActualFact, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  • The Dorothy Jones Memorial Lecture: The Jekyll & Hyde Paradigm: an update on Listeria monocytogenes
  • Women! Science is not for You! Café Scientifique, St Andrews
  • Invited speaker - New Lecturer Research Award Lecture, Dublin, Ireland

 

Media Activity

  • COVID-19 commentary for BBC News (TV and radio)
  • TV appearance: STV Edinburgh: Edinburgh Festival 2015 - Women! Science is Still Not for You!
  • News media commentator for various media outlets and Science Media Centre
  • TV appearance: STV Scotland Tonight discussing Sir Tim Hunt & sexism in science
  • TV appearance & consultancy for BBC4 After Life: The Strange Science of Decay

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member EDIS (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Science & Health) Coalition
  • Elected member of RSE Young Academy of Scotland
  • Chair, Policy Sub-committee (SfAM)
  • General Secretary Society for Applied Microbiology
  • Council member - Federation of European Microbiology Societies
  • Executive Committee member and Trustee Society for Applied Microbiology

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Chair - Q&A with Dame Sally Davies
  • Cell Block Science at HMP Shotts
  • Writer & performer - You can keep your chickens, Mr Trump - Skeptics at Edinburgh International Science Festival
  • Writer & performer - Women! Science is not for You! at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Writer & performer - Anti-vaxxers are anti-social, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • The Ticking Time Bomb of Antimicrobial Resistance: What can we do and where should we go next? Exhibition at Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  • Writer & performer - The Antibiotic Apocalypse Threatens Us All! Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Co-ordinator and creator of Fun Palace Wester Hailes , WHALE Arts
  • Performer - Bright Club for Explorathon 2015, The Stand Comedy Club
  • Performer Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Women! Science is Still Not for You!
  • Performer - Bright Club, The Stand Comedy Club
  • Workshop delivery - 'Doing Publics', Beltane Annual Gathering, Edinburgh
  • Performer Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Women! Science is Not for You!
  • Winner - I'm a Scientist, Get me Out of Here! Live!
  • I Love Microbes - interactive exhibition at British Science Festival

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External examiner - PhD (University of Manchester
  • External examiner - PhD (University of Manchester)
  • External Examiner - PhD (University of Manchester)

 

Reviewing

  • Peer Reviewer of manuscripts for Journals: Microbiology; FEMS Microbiology Letters; Nanotoxicology; BMC Microbiology; British Journal of Pharmacology

 

Date


17 results

Sources and survival of Listeria monocytogenes on fresh, leafy produce

Journal Article
on fresh, leafy produce. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 125(4), 930-942. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.14025

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on fresh, leafy produce. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 125(4), 930-942. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.14025
Listeria monocytogenes in an intracellular human pathogen which enters the body through contaminated food stuffs and is known to contaminate fresh leafy produce such as spinac...

Listeria monocytogenes

Book
Rees, C., Doyle, L., & Taylor, C. (2017)
Listeria monocytogenes. In Foodborne Diseases, 253-276. (3rd). Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-385007-2.00012-7
Listeria monocytogenes was first described in 1923. Before 1982, L. monocytogenes was recognized as a cause of abortions and encephalitis in many animals (particularly cattle ...

To avoid antibiotic apocalypse, we need to diagnose infections faster

Other
Taylor, C. (2016)
To avoid antibiotic apocalypse, we need to diagnose infections faster. https://theconversation.com/to-avoid-antibiotic-apocalypse-we-need-to-diagnose-infections-faster-64758
Taylor, C. (2016). To avoid antibiotic apocalypse, we need to diagnose infections faster. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/to-avoid-antibiotic-apocalypse-we-need-...

Non-contact injury incidence and warm-up observation in hockey in Scotland

Presentation / Conference
Johnston, T., Brown, S., Kaliarntas, K. & Taylor, C. (2016, August)
Non-contact injury incidence and warm-up observation in hockey in Scotland. Poster presented at International Sports Science + Sports Medicine Conference 2016, Newcastle University
Noncontact injuries occur during manoeuvres such as landing, accelerating and the side-cut. This investigation has assessed the prevalence and manoeuvres associated with nonco...

‘Kill switches’ could make genetically modified food more palatable

Other
Taylor, C. (2015)
‘Kill switches’ could make genetically modified food more palatable. https://theconversation.com/kill-switches-could-make-genetically-modified-food-more-palatable-51941
Taylor, C. (2015). ‘Kill switches’ could make genetically modified food more palatable. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/kill-switches-could-make-genetically-modi...

Why we’ll all learn to love genetically modified Salmonella in the end

Other
Taylor, C. (2015)
Why we’ll all learn to love genetically modified Salmonella in the end. https://theconversation.com/why-well-all-learn-to-love-genetically-modified-salmonella-in-the-end-45850
Taylor, C. (2015). Why we’ll all learn to love genetically modified Salmonella in the end. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-well-all-learn-to-love-genetically...

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry: Bridging the valley of death: improving the commercialisation of research

Report
Society for Applied Microbiology, . (2013)
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry: Bridging the valley of death: improving the commercialisation of research. London: House of Commons Science and Technology Committee
Contributor to written evidence, as a co-author of the evidence submitted by Society for Applied Microbiology (Ev w63-w68).

Recovery of MRSA and Clostridium difficile in an ICU ward

Journal Article
Ram, A., Gibb, A. P., Templeton, K., Holmes, A., Swann, D., & Taylor, C. M. (2011)
Recovery of MRSA and Clostridium difficile in an ICU ward. BMC proceedings, 5, 185-185. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-6561-5-S6-P185
Introduction / objectives The role of the hospital environment as a reservoir of infection is poorly understood. Therefore, baseline levels of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Stap...

Copper Homeostasis in Salmonella is atypical and Copper-CueP Is a major periplasmic metal complex

Journal Article
Osman, D., Waldron, K. J., Denton, H., Taylor, C. M., Grant, A. J., Mastroeni, P., …Cavet, J. S. (2010)
Copper Homeostasis in Salmonella is atypical and Copper-CueP Is a major periplasmic metal complex. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 285, 25259-25268. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M110.145953
Salmonella enterica sv. typhimurium (S. enterica sv. Typhimurium) has two metal-transporting P1-type ATPases whose actions largely overlap with respect to growth in elevated c...

Regulation of capsule expression

Book Chapter
Taylor, C., & Roberts, I. S. (2010)
Regulation of capsule expression. In . M. Wilson (Ed.), Bacterial Adhesion to Host Tissues: Mechanisms and Consequences, (115-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
No abstract available.

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • Co-supervisor of PhD with GlaxoSmithKline and Heriot Watt University