Martin Antonio

Last updated
Martin Antonio
Alma mater Queen Mary University of London
Scientific career
Institutions Warwick Medical School
Thesis Molecular biological studies on Staphylococcus aureus  (1997)

Martin Antonio FRCP is a Ghanaian Biologist who is Principal Investigator at the Medical Research Council Unit (The Gambia) at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is Director of the World Health Organization Centre for New Vaccines Surveillance and leads the West and Central Africa Regional Reference Laboratory for Invasive Bacterial Diseases.

Contents

Early life and education

Antonio is from Ghana. [1] He moved to Queen Mary University of London for his doctoral research, where he studied Staphylococcus aureus . [2] He moved to the University of Birmingham as a research fellow in 2001.[ citation needed ]

Research and career

Antonio joined the Medical Research Council (the Gambia, MRCG) in 2005, where he set up the molecular biology research group. [3] His research develops molecular diagnostics for tropical infections. He has led several multi-national research projects to better understand the causes and prevalence of pneumonia and diarrhoea. [4] His research group developed large disease surveillance platforms across Africa, and became the World Health Organization Reference Laboratory for Pneumococcal Disease.[ citation needed ]

In 2016, Antonio started working with the WHO on an outbreak of meningitis in Ghana. He leveraged the Medical Research Council (the Gambia) to identify the causative pathogens.[ citation needed ] In 2020 he was elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. [1]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Species of Gram-positive bacterium

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often positive for catalase and nitrate reduction and is a facultative anaerobe that can grow without the need for oxygen. Although S. aureus usually acts as a commensal of the human microbiota, it can also become an opportunistic pathogen, being a common cause of skin infections including abscesses, respiratory infections such as sinusitis, and food poisoning. Pathogenic strains often promote infections by producing virulence factors such as potent protein toxins, and the expression of a cell-surface protein that binds and inactivates antibodies. S. aureus is one of the leading pathogens for deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), is a worldwide problem in clinical medicine. Despite much research and development, no vaccine for S. aureus has been approved.

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References

  1. 1 2 "The African Academy of Sciences elects LSHTM Professor Martin Antonio as a Fellow". www.lshtm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  2. "Molecular biological studies on Staphylococcus aureus". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  3. "Profiles: Professor Martin Antonio". www.lshtm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  4. "Martin Antonio | LSHTM". www.lshtm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-20.