Dr Russ Morphew

PhD

Dr Russ Morphew

Senior Lecturer

IBERS

Contact Details

Teaching

Module Coordinator
Lecturer
Moderator
Coordinator
Grader
Tutor
Additional Lecturer

Research

Current research is aimed at utilising modern high resolution proteomic technologies and mass spectrometry to investigate protein function and interactions. This work has focussed upon microbial-host interactions and the proteins that act upon this interface. In particular, how proteins can facilitate the invasion, establishment or colonisation of an organism within a host. Present research focuses upon the interaction of ruminant bacteria upon ingested forage using proteomics to uncover proteins involved in bacterial colonisation, plant protein degradation and the metabolic pathways involved. Also of interest are parasitic helminths of economic importance including the liver flukes Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica, nematodes Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia circumcincta and the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Recent research using high resolution proteomics has focussed upon vaccine discovery and the development and response to anthelmintic stress and metabolism. The main driver of future research is to increase our understanding of how proteins interact with other proteins within the same organism, between organisms, within a host or with a forage. How proteins interact with ligands such as anthelmintics and metabolites are also of interest, including how proteins function in the metabolism and action of anthelmintics and ultimately anthelmintic resistance.

Publications

Livingstone, PG, Ingleby, O, Girdwood, S, Cookson, AR, Morphew, RM & Whitworth, DE 2020, 'Predatory Organisms with Untapped Biosynthetic Potential: Descriptions of Novel Corallococcus Species C. aberystwythensis sp. nov., C. carmarthensis sp. nov., C. exercitus sp. nov., C. interemptor sp. nov., C. llansteffanensis sp. nov., C. praedator sp. nov., C. sicarius sp. nov., and C. terminator sp. nov' Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 86, no. 2, e01931-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01931-19
Pawluk, R, Stuart, R, Garcia de Leaniz, C, Cable, J, Morphew, R, Brophy, P & Consuegra, S 2019, 'Smell of Infection: a novel, non-invasive method for detection of fish excretory- secretory proteins' Journal of Proteome Research, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 1371-1379. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.8b00953
Davis, C, Phillips, H, Tomes, J, Swain, M, Wilkinson, T, Brophy, P & Morphew, R 2019, 'The importance of extracellular vesicle purification for downstream analysis: A comparison of differential centrifugation and size exclusion chromatography for helminth pathogens' PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 13, no. 2, e0007191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007191
Mitchell, C, O'Sullivan, C, Pinloche, EJ-YR, Wilkinson, T, Morphew, R & McEwan, N 2019, 'Using next-generation sequencing to determine diversity of horse intestinal worms: identifying the equine ‘nemabiome’' Journal of Equine Science, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1294/jes.30.1
Line, K, Isupov, MN, LaCourse, EJ, Cutress, D, Morphew, R, Brophy, P & Littlechild, JA 2019, 'X-ray structure of Fasciola hepatica Sigma class glutathione transferase 1 reveals a disulfide bond to support stability in gastro-intestinal environment' Scientific Reports, vol. 9, 902. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37531-5
More publications on the Research Portal