Microbial Evolution Research Manchester (MERMan) is a multidisciplinary team of researchers focused on understanding microbial evolution and ecology, based at The University of Manchester.
Our research encompasses all levels of biological organisation – molecular, single-cell dynamics, populations and communities.
We use a combination of experimental, genomic and computational techniques to address fundamental and applied questions in evolutionary biology and ecology.
The areas we specialise in include:
- antimicrobial resistance;
- microbiome and microbial community dynamics;
- microbial genomics;
- single-cell and single-molecule microscopy;
- gene regulation;
- symbiosis and coevolution.
On this page:
Researchers within our group are based in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, and the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
Professor Michael Brockhurst
Professor Michael Brockhurst is a Chair in Evolutionary Biology. His research studies the real-time evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities using a combination of experimental evolution and genomics.
Current research projects include understanding the evolution of antimicrobial resistance (funded by Wellcome Trust), the (co)evolution of bacteria and phage in microbiomes and phage therapy (funded by BBSRC), and unravelling the evolutionary origins of symbiosis (funded by NERC).
Dr Michael Bottery
Dr Michael Bottery is a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow.
His research focuses on how inter-kingdom interactions between fungal and bacterial pathogens during polymicrobial infection can alter the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.
Dr Katharine Z Coyte
Dr Katharine Z Coyte is a Presidential Fellow using novel mathematical, computational and experimental methods to study the ecology and evolution of host-associated microbial communities.
Dr Danna Gifford
Dr Danna Gifford is Lecturer studying how microbes adapt to new environments, with special foci on antimicrobial resistance and extremophile microbes. Her research is funded by the BBSRC, NERC, Royal Society, and Academy of Medical Sciences. She uses a combination of computational, experimental and genomic approaches to understand and predict microbial evolutionary responses.
Dr Claudia Igler
Dr. Claudia Igler is a Wellcome Trust ECA Fellow using mathematical and biophysical modelling, synthetic engineering and single-cell microscopy to understand the mechanisms driving microbial population dynamics. Her research focuses particularly on the interactions between bacteriophages and their bacterial host cells, and the dependence of these interactions on the environment.
Dr Rok Krašovec
Dr Rok Krašovec is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow focusing on mutagenesis, DNA repair and evolution of antimicrobial resistance in microbial communities.
He is using a range of microbiology and imaging techniques to understand how these molecular processes depend upon the biotic environment.
Dr Mato Lagator
Dr Mato Lagator is a Wellcome Trust Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow studying how the existing molecular mechanisms in cells determine evolution, using gene regulation as the focal system.
Interdisciplinary research in the Lagator group combines biophysics, molecular and synthetic biology to understand evolution.
Dr Norman van Rhijn
Dr Norman van Rhijn is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow affiliated with both the MERman and the Manchester Fungal Infection Group (MFIG). His main research interests are: One Health and Fungal infections, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Climate change and Genetic tools in non-model organisms (fungal pathogens)
Dr William Smith
Dr. William Smith is a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow studying the ecology and evolution of microbial competition. His research uses computer simulation, multi-omics and experimental evolution to study how microorganisms compete and adapt within host-associated microbial communities (particularly within gut and infection ecosystems).
Dr Fiona Whelan
Dr Fiona Whelan is a bioinformatician, microbiologist, and evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester. Previously, Fiona was an Anne McLaren Fellow at the University of Nottingham and a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-20) in James McInerney’s research group investigating gene co-occurrence patterns in microbial pangenomes. Fiona conducted her Ph.D. research on the human microbiome and cystic fibrosis in the laboratory of Dr. Michael G. Surette at McMaster University as a CIHR Doctoral and Cystic Fibrosis Canada scholar. Fiona also worked as a MSc with Dr. Dawn Bowdish, also at McMaster University, investigating the evolutionary history of a family of immune cell receptors.
Learn more at the Whelan Lab website.
Dr Rosanna Wright
Dr Rosanna Wright is a Dean’s Prize Fellow. She is a microbiologist and evolutionary biologist who specialises in bacteriophage therapy and antimicrobial resistance. Her research focuses on how viruses that infect bacteria, known as bacteriophages, can be used to treat antibiotic-resistant infections, particularly in the context of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that is often resistant to treatment. Dr. Wright’s recent work has explored how phages could help clear difficult-to-treat infections by targeting bacteria in ways antibiotics cannot.
Dr. Wright’s fellowship research aims to explore how phages can be harnessed to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa. By studying the interactions between phages and bacterial defences, her work seeks to optimise phage treatments for persistent infections, contributing to the development of tailored therapies that can adapt to the evolving nature of bacterial pathogens.
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Dr Chris Knight
Dr Chris Knight is a Senior Lecturer who uses microbial and computational experimental systems to understand ecological effects on evolutionary mechanisms.
His research crosses biological scales from the genetics of mutagenesis to community change in complex microbiomes.
Professor Sophie Nixon
Professor Sophie Nixon is broadly interested in microbial ecology, particularly in natural and engineered deep terrestrial environments.
Applications of her research include harnessing microbial processes to mitigate negative processes (for example, biofouling) and promoting beneficial processes (for example, bioremediation, CO2 sequestration or the degradation of plastics).
Dr Raveen Tank
Dr Raveen Tank is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw fellow based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Her work uses microfluidics approaches to understand the interactions between microbes and their environments. Her research has applications to a diverse range of fields, including geomicrobiology and women’s health.
Join us
There are several ways for you to join our actively growing collaborative group as an early career or PhD researcher.
Postdoctoral positions will be advertised on The University of Manchester’s jobs portal.
Available PhD positions can be found on the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health’s postgraduate research projects page.
If you are interested in joining us as an externally-funded student or fellow, please get in touch with one of the PIs listed below in the People section.
Increasing public understanding of microbial evolution and its links to societal problems is a core element of our impact.
Our group members are involved in a number of outreach activities, at local, national, and international levels. Activities initiated by our members include:
- And The Microbes: A public engagement comic book inspired by real scientific experiments.
- Antimicrobial Resistance Network: A community of clinical and academic researchers focused on combating antimicrobial resistance.
- Experimenting With Evolution: Community engagement activity aimed at introducing children and young adults to evolution, microbiology and antimicrobial resistance.
- You and Your Microbes: Social media engagement for older teens and adults, involving a take-home experiment looking for resistant bacteria on fingertips.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
You can contact one of our researchers through the details on their research profile, as listed in the People section.
Our address
Lab A.4040 / D.4401
Michael Smith Building
Oxford Road
The University of Manchester
Manchester
M13 9PT
Email us: merman@manchester.ac.uk
Join our mailing list: merman@listserv.manchester.ac.uk
Follow us on X: @MERManchester
Follow us on Bluesky: @MERManchester
Contact Us
+44 (0) 161 306 6000
