I am Professor of Microbiome and Systems Biology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. My research team's work focuses on host–microbiota interactions, combining microbiology and bioinformatics approaches in vitro and in vivo to understand how members of the microbiota function and influence human health and disease.

I have specific expertise in anaerobic microbiology, in vitro fermenation systems and the processing and analyses of various types of omics data (microbiomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, genomic). Using integrated systems-level approaches, I have defined the contribution of the mammalian gut microbiota and its metabolites to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic retroconversion and integrity of the blood–brain barrier.

My team's research has been/is funded by Guts UK, Diabetes, EU Horizon 2020, Healthcare Infection Society, Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Royal Society, The Academy of Medical Sciences, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Research UK, GlaxoSmithKline, Microbiology Society, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Egyptian Government – Ministry of Higher Education/Egyptian Cultural and Education Bureau, and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology.

“‘The message may be in an unusual medium,’ Pieter said. ‘It might lie in the precise pattern of flecks in the iris of one eye, or in one of her finger-prints, or in the disposition of her intestinal flora, or even in her own genetic code.’”
– Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks, published 1995.