Nick Wheelhouse
Nick Wheelhouse

Dr Nick Wheelhouse BSc (Hons) PhD

Associate Professor

Biography

Associate Professor in microbiology and Deputy lead of the Centre for Biomedicine and Global Health within the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University.

I started my academic career as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Pathology at Edinburgh University where I worked in the areas of liver cancer and transplantation failure. It was here that I developed a keen interest in understanding the underlying causes of disease pathogenesis. I then moved to the Moredun Research Institute where I worked first as a Postdoctoral scientist and then as as Senior Postdoctoral Scientist focusing my research into the effects and impacts of bacterial infections which cause reproductive complications in both humans and livestock.

I co-lead of the Global research alliance Animal Health and Greenhouse Gas Intensity Network and I am a Trustee of the British Society for Animal Science. I hold memberships of Edinburgh Infectious Diseases, the hub for infectious disease research in Edinburgh, the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, Microbiology Society, British Society of Animal Science and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I have a breadth of research interests however the main areas of my research are the diagnosis, immunopathogenesis and epidemiology of reproductive infections particularly zoonoses that can be spread from animals to humans. I am particularly interested in understanding the impact of these infections on human health and quantifying their effects on livestock farming.

My work involves collaboration with multiple partner organisations in the UK and overseas, including NHS Lothian, the Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow in the UK where I am an Affiliated Researcher and the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where I am an honorary Fellow. Internationally I have collaborations with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, The University of Nairobi, and International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya.

Themes

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Committee member Food Standards Agency Joint Expert Group on Animal Feed and Feed Additives - AFFAJEG
  • Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs - ACAF
  • Network Lead- Animal Health & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Network
  • Royal Society of Biology Animal Science Group
  • Council member- Society for Reproduction and Fertility
  • Expert of Science and Technology Evaluation- National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation, Kazakhstan
  • International External advisor for the Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA) in Argentina (2015-)

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Conference Presentation- Joint meeting of ESCCAR/ESCR 2022
  • Conference Presentation: Fertility 2022
  • Judging panel SRF Posters and 'Postdoctoral presentation' session Fertility 2022
  • Royal Society Westminster Pairing
  • Judging panel 'Postgraduate presentation' Fertility 2021
  • Conference Presentation: Fertility 2021, Online
  • Session Chair (Fertility 2020)
  • Judging panel 'Postgraduate presentation' and 'Postdoctoral presentation' sessions Fertility 2020
  • Judging panel 'Best Poster' and 'ECR presentation' Fertility 2019, Birmingham
  • Workshop organiser: KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Conference Presentation: Fertility 2018, Liverpool
  • Conference Presentation: European Society for Coxiellosis, Chlamydioses, Anaplasmoses and Rickettsioses, Marseille,
  • Conference presentation: European Society for Chlamydia Research, Cambridge
  • Conference Presentation: SRF annual meeting, Cambridge
  • Conference Presentation: Edinburgh Infectious Diseases Symposium, 2015
  • Conference Presentation: European Meeting for Animal Chlamydioses, Paris
  • Conference Presentation: European Meeting for Animal Chlamydioses, Jena
  • Conference Presentation: European Society for Chlamydia Research, Amsterdam
  • Conference Presentation: FEMAC meeting, Murcia, 2009
  • Conference Presentation: European Society for Chlamydia Research, Aarhus, Denmark
  • Conference Presentation: COST855 meeting Pulawy, Poland
  • Conference Presentation: COST855 meeting, Edinburgh
  • Conference Presentation: British Society for Immunology, Glasgow
  • Conference Presentation: British Society for Nutrition, Glasgow
  • Conference Presentation: British Society of Animal Science, Scarborough

 

Editorial Activity

  • Associate Editor Veterinary Sciences
  • Reproduction & Fertility- Associate Editor
  • Frontiers in Veterinary Science- Associate Editor
  • Editorial Board Member 'Frontiers in Microbiology'
  • Associate Editor 'Heliyon' Elsevier

 

External Examining/Validations

  • The Royal Veterinary College- External Examiner

 

Grant Funding Panel Member

  • SRF- Grant awarding committee

 

Grant Reviewer

  • The University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna 'Top Vet Science' call
  • Assessor Innovate UK
  • BBSRC Grant Reviewer
  • Research Foundation- Flanders (FWO) Grant Reviewer
  • The German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development
  • National Science Foundation (US)
  • MRC Grant Reviewer

 

Invited Speaker

  • Invited Seminar Speaker- Mazingira Centre, ILRI, Nairobi
  • Animal Health Network update: GRA LRG meeting 2022
  • Plenary Speaker 'Vision 2022', Cote d'Ivoire
  • Invited Speaker: SRF Early Career Research Workshop, Edinburgh
  • Acceptability of Extragenital Chlamydia testing in young women- NHS Research Scotland Annual Conference
  • Invited Speaker: Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Invited Speaker: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghaa
  • 'Q-fever' Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow
  • Invited talk: School of Life Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University
  • Global Research Alliance on climate change meeting Reading, June 2015. ‘Investigations into novel pathogens associated with bovine reproductive failure’.
  • Sheep Veterinary Society meeting, Jersey 2010 ‘Evidence of Chlamydophila abortus vaccine strain 1B as a possible cause of ovine enzootic abortion’
  • FACCE JPI MACSUR LiveM meeting Potsdam, June 2016 'Animal Health and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Network: Achievements and Future'

 

Media Activity

  • The Impact of infectious disease on livestock health-Blog
  • https://whylivestockmatter.org/articles/improving-animal-health-key-sustainable-livestock-production-and-better-human-health
  • Online Policy Brief- Improving animal health: a key to sustainable livestock production and better human health
  • Q-fever podcast- Veterinary times
  • The Crofter Issue 88 Aug 2010 ‘Controlling chlamydial abortion in sheep’
  • The Sheep Farmer July/Aug 2010 ‘Chlamydial abortion’
  • The Sheep Farmer March/ April 2012 ‘Controlling chlamydial abortion’
  • ‘Chlamydial infection of sheep an infectious cause of prenatal lamb death’ http://www.knowledgescotland.org/briefings.php?id=209

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

 

Public Engagement Activity

  • NSA National Event 2010
  • NSA Scotsheep 2011
  • Royal Highland Show 2013
  • Royal Highland Show 2010
  • National Sheep Association (NSA) Scotsheep 2010
  • Royal Highland Show 2011
  • Moredun Animal Health Roadshow (Peebles) 2011

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Livestock Health Workshop- Nandi County Kenya

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External PhD examination University of Southampton 'Studies on the plasmid-based genetic tools for C. muridarum: progress towards a replicating vector for transposon mutagenesis'
  • University College Dublin PhD examiner 'Bovine sperm sexing impacts sperm morphokinetics, gameto-maternal interaction and subsequent early embryonic development'

 

Reviewing

  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
  • Epidemiology and infection
  • Frontiers in Microbiology
  • Veterinary Pathology
  • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
  • PeerJ
  • Pathogens & disease
  • Microbes & infection
  • Chemistry & Biology
  • Veterinary Microbiology
  • Veterinary Journal
  • BMC Veterinary Research
  • Veterinary Immunology & Immunopathology
  • Emerging Infectious Diseases
  • Veterinary Record

 

Visiting Positions

  • International Livestock Research Institute (Nairobi)
  • Honorary Fellow Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
  • Glasgow University IBACHM- Affiliate Researcher
  • Guest Lecturer- University of Liverpool Veterinary School

 

Date


80 results

The value of livestock abortion surveillance in Tanzania: identifying disease priorities and informing interventions

Working Paper
Lankester, F., Kibona, T. J., Allan, K. J., de Glanville, W., Buza, J. J., Katzer, F., …Cleaveland, S. (2024)
The value of livestock abortion surveillance in Tanzania: identifying disease priorities and informing interventions
Background: Lack of reliable data on the aetiology of livestock diseases, especially in Africa, is a major factor constraining the design of effective livestock health interve...

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Q-fever (Coxiella burnetii) exposure in smallholder dairy cattle in Tanzania

Journal Article
Festo Bwatota, S., Mkilema Shirima, G., Hernandez-Castro, L. E., Mark de Clare Bronsvoort, B., Wheelhouse, N., Joseph Mengele, I., …Cook, E. A. J. (2022)
Seroprevalence and risk factors for Q-fever (Coxiella burnetii) exposure in smallholder dairy cattle in Tanzania. Veterinary Sciences, 9(12), Article 662. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9120662
Q fever is a zoonotic disease, resulting from infection with Coxiella burnetii. Infection in cattle can cause abortion and infertility, however, there is little epidemiologica...

Epidemiology of q-fever in domestic ruminants and humans in Africa: A systematic review

Journal Article
Festo Bwatota, S., Cook, E. A. J., Mark de Clare Bronsvoort, B., Wheelhouse, N., Hernandez-Castor, L. E., & Mkilema Shirima, G. (2022)
Epidemiology of q-fever in domestic ruminants and humans in Africa: A systematic review. CABI One Health, https://doi.org/10.1079/cabionehealth.2022.0008
Q-fever is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by the gram-negative, intracellular, spore-forming bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Infected ruminants (cattle, sheep, and goats) a...

Endemicity of Coxiella burnetii infection among people and their livestock in pastoral communities in northern Kenya

Journal Article
Muema, J., Nyamai, M., Wheelhouse, N., Njuguna, J., Jost, C., Oyugi, J., …Thumbi, S. (2022)
Endemicity of Coxiella burnetii infection among people and their livestock in pastoral communities in northern Kenya. Heliyon, 8(10), Article e11133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11133
Background Coxiella burnetti can be transmitted to humans primarily through inhaling contaminated droplets released from infected animals or consumption of contaminated dairy ...

Modelling the Transmission of Coxiella burnetii within a UK Dairy Herd: Investigating the Interconnected Relationship between the Parturition Cycle and Environment Contamination

Journal Article
Patsatzis, D. G., Wheelhouse, N., & Tingas, E. (2022)
Modelling the Transmission of Coxiella burnetii within a UK Dairy Herd: Investigating the Interconnected Relationship between the Parturition Cycle and Environment Contamination. Veterinary Sciences, 9(10), Article 522. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9100522
Q fever infection in dairy herds is introduced through the transmission of the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, resulting in multiple detrimental effects such as reduction of lact...

Editorial: New Approaches to Understanding Vector Borne Diseases in Domestic and Wild animals

Journal Article
Cook, E. A., Wheelhouse, N., Larska, M., & Obanda, V. (2022)
Editorial: New Approaches to Understanding Vector Borne Diseases in Domestic and Wild animals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9, Article 1009751. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.1009751

Prospective cohort study reveals unexpected aetiologies of livestock abortion in northern Tanzania

Journal Article
Thomas, K. M., Kibona, T., Claxton, J. R., de Glanville, W. A., Lankester, F., Amani, N., …Allan, K. J. (2022)
Prospective cohort study reveals unexpected aetiologies of livestock abortion in northern Tanzania. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 11669. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15517-8
Livestock abortion is an important cause of productivity losses worldwide and many infectious causes of abortion are zoonotic pathogens that impact on human health. Little is ...

Recent advances and public health implications for environmental exposure to Chlamydia abortus: from enzootic to zoonotic disease

Journal Article
Turin, L., Surini, S., Wheelhouse, N., & Silvia Rocchi, M. (2022)
Recent advances and public health implications for environmental exposure to Chlamydia abortus: from enzootic to zoonotic disease. Veterinary Research, 53(1), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-022-01052-x
Environmental transmission of Chlamydia abortus as a result of enzootic disease or disease outbreaks and the threats posed by this pathogen has been previously reported, howev...

Identification of Parachlamydiaceae DNA in nasal and rectal passages of healthy dairy cattle

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Hearn, J., Livingstone, M., Flockhart, A., Dagleish, M., & Longbottom, D. (2022)
Identification of Parachlamydiaceae DNA in nasal and rectal passages of healthy dairy cattle. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 132(4), 2642-2648. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15422
Aims The order Chlamydiales comprises a broad range of bacterial pathogens and endosymbionts, which infect a wide variety of host species. Within this order, members of the fa...

Q fever and early pregnancy failure: a Scottish case control study

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Kemp, S., Halliday, J. E. B., Tingas, E. A., Duncan, W. C., & Horne, A. W. (2022)
Q fever and early pregnancy failure: a Scottish case control study. Reproduction and Fertility, 3(1), https://doi.org/10.1530/raf-21-0072

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • BBSRC/ Zoetis IPA Chlamydia-like organisms as a novel cause of bovine reproductive failure (£1.2 M)
  • Chief Scientist Office: Mitochondrial DNA deletions in Barrett's oesophagus (£25k)
  • Melville Trust: Mitochondrial DNA mutations as a sentinel marker of hepatocarcinogenesis (£50k)

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects