Conférences plénières

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Rob Lavigne - University of Leuven

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Jennifer Mahony - University College Cork

Jennifer Mahony is Professor of Molecular Food Microbiology at University College Cork and a Principal Investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland. Her research primarily focuses on the interactions between bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—and beneficial bacteria used in food fermentations. By studying these interactions, Prof Mahony aims to enhance the quality and sustainability of fermented foods like cheese and yogurt. This work is crucial for developing strategies to prevent phage infections that can disrupt fermentation processes, leading to food spoilage and waste. By understanding how bacteriophages recognize and infect bacteria such as Streptococcus thermophilus, her team seeks to devise methods to protect these beneficial microbes, thereby improving food production efficiency. 

Prof Mahony's commitment to sustainable food production extends to developing plant-based alternatives to dairy products. Her research applies knowledge from dairy fermentation to improve the taste and texture of vegan foods, meeting the growing consumer demand for such products. 

In addition to her work on food fermentations, Prof Mahony has been involved in projects addressing global health challenges. Notably, she received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate the gut microbiota of infants in developing countries and to develop phage-based therapeutics for microbially-derived intestinal infections with target organisms such as Shigella and Enterotoxigenic E. coli. This research aims to reduce infant mortality by targeting harmful bacteria in the gut with specific bacteriophages, thereby promoting a healthier microbial balance. 

Through her diverse research efforts, Prof Jennifer Mahony contributes significantly to both food science and global health, leveraging her expertise in microbiology to address pressing challenges in these fields.

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Giuseppina Mariano - University of Glasgow

Dr Giuseppina Mariano is a Career Development Fellow at the MRC–University of Glasgow School of Infection & Immunity, where her research explores the molecular battles between bacteria and the viruses that prey on them. Her work focuses on uncovering and characterising novel anti-phage defence systems—mechanisms bacteria use to resist viral attack. By understanding these defences, her group aims to shed light on the long-term evolutionary arms race between bacteria and phages, and how these dynamics shape microbial genomes.

Her scientific journey began with studies of bacterial warfare systems: during her PhD and first postdoctoral work at the University of Dundee, she investigated how the Type VI Secretion System functions as a molecular weapon in Serratia marcescens. She later expanded her focus to the assembly of the bacterial flagellum in Salmonella.

In 2020, Dr Mariano was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship, launching her independent research programme across Newcastle University and the University of Surrey. This work led to the discovery of previously unknown anti-phage systems in Pseudomonas and Serratia, several of which revealed unique mechanisms of viral inhibition.

Now leading her lab in Glasgow, Dr Mariano is combining genomics, biochemistry, and infection models to investigate how these bacterial defence systems operate under clinically relevant conditions. Her research not only advances fundamental understanding of microbial evolution but also has important implications for the emerging field of phage therapy, where phages are harnessed as precision tools to combat antibiotic-resistant infections.

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Maite Muniesa - University of Barcelona

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Dmitriy Myelnikov - University of Cambridge

Dmitriy Myelnikov is a historian of biology and medicine, and a Teaching Associate in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. He has researched histories of genetic engineering, animal experimentation, and bacteriophage therapy across the Iron Curtain, and especially in Soviet-era Georgia and Ukraine.