Nick Wheelhouse
Nick Wheelhouse

Dr Nick Wheelhouse BSc (Hons) PhD

Associate Professor

 0131 455 5721

  N.Wheelhouse@napier.ac.uk

   

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.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

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
  • Council member- Society for Reproduction and Fertility
  • Royal Society of Biology Animal Science Group
  • 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

  • Judging panel SRF Posters and 'Postdoctoral presentation' session Fertility 2022
  • Conference Presentation- Joint meeting of ESCCAR/ESCR 2022
  • Conference Presentation: Fertility 2022
  • Royal Society Westminster Pairing
  • Judging panel 'Postgraduate presentation' Fertility 2021
  • Conference Presentation: Fertility 2021, Online
  • Judging panel 'Postgraduate presentation' and 'Postdoctoral presentation' sessions Fertility 2020
  • Session Chair (Fertility 2020)
  • Workshop organiser: KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Judging panel 'Best Poster' and 'ECR presentation' Fertility 2019, Birmingham
  • 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: Edinburgh Infectious Diseases Symposium, 2015
  • Conference Presentation: European Meeting for Animal Chlamydioses, Paris
  • Conference Presentation: SRF annual meeting, Cambridge
  • 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

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

 

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: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghaa
  • Invited Speaker: Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Kumasi, Ghana
  • '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 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
  • The Crofter Issue 88 Aug 2010 ‘Controlling chlamydial abortion in sheep’

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

 

Public Engagement Activity

  • Royal Highland Show 2013
  • Royal Highland Show 2010
  • Moredun Animal Health Roadshow (Peebles) 2011
  • National Sheep Association (NSA) Scotsheep 2010
  • Royal Highland Show 2011
  • NSA National Event 2010
  • NSA Scotsheep 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
  • Chemistry & Biology
  • Emerging Infectious Diseases
  • Veterinary Record
  • Veterinary Microbiology
  • Veterinary Journal
  • BMC Veterinary Research
  • Veterinary Immunology & Immunopathology
  • PeerJ
  • Pathogens & disease
  • Microbes & infection

 

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

 

Filter by

Date


80 results

Evidence of Chlamydophila abortus vaccine strain 1B as a possible cause of ovine enzootic abortion

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Aitchison, K., Laroucau, K., Thomson, J., & Longbottom, D. (2010)
Evidence of Chlamydophila abortus vaccine strain 1B as a possible cause of ovine enzootic abortion. Vaccine, 28(35), 5657-5663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.04.114
Chlamydophila abortus, the agent of ovine enzootic abortion (OEA), is a major cause of lamb mortality worldwide. Disease can be controlled through the use of vaccines based on...

Parachlamydia involvement in bovine abortions in a beef herd in Scotland

Journal Article
Caldow, G., Gidlow, J., Deuchande, R., Baily, J., Longbottom, D., Wheelhouse, N., …Greub, G. (2010)
Parachlamydia involvement in bovine abortions in a beef herd in Scotland. Veterinary Record, 166, 598-599. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.c2435

Inflammatory cytokine responses in a pregnant mouse model of Chlamydophila abortus infection.

Journal Article
Kerr, K., Wheelhouse, N., Livingstone, M., Anderson, I. E., Entrican, G., McKeever, D. & Longbottom, D. (2010)
Inflammatory cytokine responses in a pregnant mouse model of Chlamydophila abortus infection. Veterinary Microbiology. 144(3-4), 392-398. doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2010.01.025. ISSN 0378-1135
Chlamydophila abortus (C. abortus) is the aetiological agent of ovine enzootic abortion (OEA). The highly elevated expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis ...

Transcriptional analysis of in vitro expression patterns of chlamydophila abortus polymorphic outer membrane proteins during the chlamydial developmental cycle.

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Aitchison, K., Spalding, L., Livingstone, M., & Longbottom, D. (2009)
Transcriptional analysis of in vitro expression patterns of chlamydophila abortus polymorphic outer membrane proteins during the chlamydial developmental cycle. Veterinary Research, 40(5), 47. https://doi.org/10.1051/vetres/2009030
Chlamydophila abortus is the aetiological agent of ovine enzootic abortion. Sequencing, annotation and comparative analysis of the genome of C. abortus strain S26/3 has reveal...

Ovine trophoblast is a primary source of TNFalpha during Chlamydophila abortus infection.

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Wattegedera, S., Stanton, J., Maley, S., Watson, D., Jepson, C., …Entrican, G. (2009)
Ovine trophoblast is a primary source of TNFalpha during Chlamydophila abortus infection. Journal of Reproductive Immunology, 80(1-2), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jri.2008.12.003
Chlamydophila abortus is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium that causes infectious abortion in sheep (ovine enzootic abortion, OEA) and humans. Infected placenta...

Frequency of the mitochondrial DNA 4977bp deletion in oesophageal mucosa during the progression of Barrett's oesophagus.

Journal Article
Tan, B., Skipworth, R., Stephens, N., Wheelhouse, N., Gilmour, H., De Beaux, A., …Ross, J. (2009)
Frequency of the mitochondrial DNA 4977bp deletion in oesophageal mucosa during the progression of Barrett's oesophagus. European Journal of Cancer. 45(5), 736-740. doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2009.01.013. ISSN 0959-8049
Purpose: The mechanisms of the progression of Barrett’s oesophagus (BO) to oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OA) are poorly understood. The frequency of the 4977bp deletion in mitoc...

Expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor and elafin in human fallopian tube and in an in-vitro model of Chlamydia trachomatis infection

Journal Article
King, A. E., Wheelhouse, N., Cameron, S., McDonald, S. E., Lee, K., Entrican, G., …Horne, A. W. (2009)
Expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor and elafin in human fallopian tube and in an in-vitro model of Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Human Reproduction, 24(3), 679-686. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/den452
BACKGROUND: Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) and elafin are anti-protease and anti-microbial molecules with a role in innate immune defence. They have been demons...

Pregnancy, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and chlamydial abortion: an unresolved paradox

Journal Article
Entrican, G., Wattegedera, S., Rocchi, M., & Wheelhouse, N. (2009)
Pregnancy, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and chlamydial abortion: an unresolved paradox. Veterinary Microbiology, 135(1-2), 98-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.028
Chlamydophila abortus infects the placental trophoblast in sheep, humans and mice, causing cell damage and inflammation that culminates in abortion. Host control of C. abortus...

Molecular detection of Chlamydophila abortus in post-abortion sheep at oestrus and subsequent lambing

Journal Article
Livingstone, M., Wheelhouse, N., Maley, S. W., & Longbottom, D. (2008)
Molecular detection of Chlamydophila abortus in post-abortion sheep at oestrus and subsequent lambing. Veterinary Microbiology, 135(1-2), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.033
Enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE), resulting from infection with the bacterium Chlamydophila abortus (C. abortus), is a major cause of lamb loss in Europe. The purpose of this s...

Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila abortus induce the expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in cells of the human female reproductive tract

Journal Article
Wheelhouse, N., Wattegedera, S., Fleming, D., Fitch, P., Kelly, R., & Entrican, G. (2008)
Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila abortus induce the expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in cells of the human female reproductive tract. Microbiology and Immunology, 52(9), 465-468. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1348-0421.2008.00058.x
C. trachomatis and C. abortus are related Gram-negative intracellular bacteria that cause reproductive failure due to infertility (C. trachomatis) or abortion (C. abortus). Th...

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