Colin Hughes (microbiologist)
Colin Hughes PhD ScD FLSW (born 14 March 1953) is a British microbiologist who has worked in the areas of bacterial virulence, motility and antibiotic resistance. He is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, and Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Early Life and Education[edit]
Hughes was born and raised in North Wales. His parents were May Hughes (née Roberts) and Joseph Hughes, a textile worker. He was educated at Holywell Grammar School, which during his time there changed to the comprehensive Holywell High School. He studied Natural Sciences at the University of Kent, Canterbury (1971-74), where he also undertook research for a PhD (1974-77) under the supervision of Professor G.G.Meynell.
Academic Career[edit]
He trained in three post-doctoral posts: at the Sandoz Research Institute Vienna (1977-80), at the University of Würzburg with Professor Werner Goebel (1980-83), and at the Smith Kline Research Institute in Philadelphia (1884). In 1985 he became Lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Cambridge Department of Pathology where he established research into the molecular biology of pathogenic bacteria. His subsequent work focused on molecular mechanisms underlying toxin biogenesis and export, flagellum assembly and motility, and multidrug resistance. He was awarded a Readership in Microbiology in 1996 and in 2001 was promoted to Professor of Microbiology. In 2000 he received the Doctor of Science degree from the University of Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1997, and in 2012 he became Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. From 1985 to 2018 Hughes taught the University's Natural, Medical and Veterinary Science students in the Department of Pathology, where he became Director of Teaching (2011-17), and he was Director of Studies in Medical Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2017. He was Head of the Department of Pathology's Division of Microbiology and Parasitology from 1998 to 2017, and Deputy Head of the Department from 2011 to 2017.
Selected Publications[edit]
- Issartel et al (1991) Activation of Escherichia coli prohaemolysin to the mature toxin by acyl carrier protein-dependent fatty acylation. Nature 351:759-761 [1]
- Stanley et al (1994) Fatty acylation of two internal lysine residues required for the toxic activity of Escherichia coli hemolysin. Science 266:1992-1996 [2]]
- Thanabalu et al (1998) Substrate-induced assembly of a contiguous channel for protein export from E.coli. EMBO J 17:6487-6496 [3]
- Koronakis et al (2000) Crystal structure of TolC central to multidrug efflux and protein export. Nature 405:914-919 [4]
- Andersen et al (2002) Transition to the open state of the TolC periplasmic tunnel entrance. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 99:11103-11108 [5]
- Higgins et al (2004) Structure of the periplasmic component of a bacterial antibiotic efflux pump. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 101:9994-9999[6]
- Thomas et al (2004) Docking of chaperone-substrate complexes at the membrane ATPase during flagellar type III protein export. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 101:3945-3950 [7]
- Evans et al (2006) An escort mechanism for cycling export chaperones. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 103:1747417479 [8]
- Lobedanz et al (2007) A coiled-coil interface underlying TolC recruitment and pump assembly. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 104:4612 [9]
- Symmons et al (2009) The assembled structure of a tripartite multidrug efflux pump. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 106:7173-7178[10]
- Pei et al (2011) Structures of sequential open states in a symmetrical opening transition of the TolC exit duct. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 108:2112-2117 [11]
- Evans et al (2013) A chain mechanism for flagellum growth. Nature 504:287-290 [12]
- Greene et al (2015) Structure of a bacterial toxin-activating acyltransferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 112:E3058-E3066 [13]