Food Security MPhil

University of Liverpool

Food Security focuses on improving food safety in the UK, EU, Africa and Asia through controlling major foodborne pathogens such as Campylobacter and Salmonella and increasing productivity through control of endemic disease in the UK including Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli and in Asia and Africa and through improvements in animal welfare.

Overview

The University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health was established to bring together leading medical, veterinary and basic science researchers from across the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. We also enjoy close and active collaboration with NHS colleagues through the Liverpool Health Partners Academic Health Science System.

We employ an interdisciplinary approach to our research that ranges from environmental survival of pathogens, through to their biology in foodstuffs. To achieve this we use epidemiological approaches, mathematical modeling, pathogen and host genomics to studies in microbial pathogenesis and host immune responses. As such the theme of Food Security involves researchers across all departments of IGH.

Research themes

Our research themes include:

Understanding how stressors in poultry production impact on the immune response and vaccine efficacy

Characterisation of the population biology of Campylobacter jejuni through poultry processing

Determining the impact of chicken genotype on Campylobacter infection

The risks of foodborne infection from backyard poultry production in Africa

Developing novel adjuvants for Salmonella vaccines

Survival of Campylobacter in food products

Determining the pathogenesis of monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium variants.