Timothy Rutland Walsh OBE is a professor working at the University of Oxford. He is a specialist in antimicrobial resistance. Walsh is the Oxford Institute of Antimicrobial Research (IOI) Director of Biology. His work at IOI involves developing new antibiotics to use in animals, to replace use of human antibiotics. His IOI work also involves screening many chemicals to find new antimicrobials that overcome or impede antimicrobial resistance. Also he is involved in documenting the large scale effects of antibiotic resistance in low to middle income countries, such as China, Pakistan Bangladesh, Brazil and several African countries.[1][2]
Prof Timothy Rutland Walsh OBE | |
---|---|
Citizenship | Australian |
Alma mater | University of Bristol; University of Tasmania |
Occupation | Researcher |
Known for | NDM-1 |
Academic career | |
Era | 2000s-present |
Discipline | Microbiology |
Sub-discipline | Antibiotic resistance |
Institutions | Oxford University; Cardiff University; University of Bristol |
Thesis | Inducible β-lactamase expression in non-fastidious gram-negative bacilli (1995) |
Early life
editTimothy Walsh was born in England but migrated to Tasmania when he was a teenager. His father was a biologist and mother an accountant. He studied at the University of Tasmania and earned a degree in medical laboratory science. He then worked at the Royal Hobart Hospital in the lab as a microbiologist whilst undertaking a master's degree in immunology and microbiology in University of Tasmania.[3]
Walsh continued moved back to the UK and completed a PhD at Bristol University in 1995 reading biology studying β-lactamases.[3]
After his PhD Walsh worked at the UK Medical Research Council in London, in the protein structure unit, and then in 1997 started teaching at the University of Bristol. In 2006 he started work at the Cardiff University as a professor with a title of chair in Medical Microbiology and Antibiotic Resistance.[3]
Discoveries
editHis research determined that a large proportion of ants, cockroaches, flies, moths and spiders were carrying extended spectrum cephalosporin and carbapenem resistant baccteria.[4]
Prof. Walsh was the discoverer of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 NDM gene[3] and the mobil colistin resistance (MCR) gene. He also codiscovered the mobile tigecycline-resistance genes designated tet(X3) and tet(X4).[5]
The naming of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 caused controversy due to the highlighting of New Delhi in the name of a gene and its association with medical tourism.[6][7]
As a result of Walsh and his colleague's findings, colistin in animals was banned in China in 2017.[8]
Qualifications
editWalsh received a DSc from Bristol University in 2022[9] and received an OBE for services to microbiology and international development in the Queen's New Years Honours in 2020.[10]
Positions
editWalsh is the principal investigator for Burden of Antibiotic Resistance in Neonates from Developing Societies (BARNARDS), a Gates Foundation project.[11][12] He is also director of BALANCE (comparing the clinical and economic burden of AMR in Adults);[13] and AVIAR (Arthropods as vectors of infection and AMR).[14]
References
edit- ^ "Professor Timothy Rutland Walsh DSc OBE". www.biology.ox.ac.uk.
- ^ Carvalho, M. J.; Sands, K.; Thomson, K.; Portal, E.; Mathias, J.; Milton, R.; Gillespie, D.; Dyer, C.; Akpulu, C.; Boostrom, I.; Hogan, P.; Saif, H.; Ferreira, A.; Nieto, M.; Hender, T.; Hood, K.; Andrews, R.; Watkins, W. J.; Hassan, B.; Chan, G.; Bekele, D.; Solomon, S.; Metaferia, G.; Basu, S.; Naha, S.; Sinha, A.; Chakravorty, P.; Mukherjee, S.; Iregbu, K.; Modibbo, F.; Uwaezuoke, S.; Audu, L.; Edwin, C. P.; Yusuf, A. H.; Adeleye, A.; Mukkadas, A. S.; Zahra, R.; Shirazi, H.; Muhammad, A.; Ullah, S. N.; Jan, M. H.; Akif, S.; Mazarati, J. B.; Rucogoza, A.; Gaju, L.; Mehtar, S.; Bulabula, A. N. H.; Whitelaw, A.; Roberts, L.; Walsh, T. R. (4 August 2022). "Antibiotic resistance genes in the gut microbiota of mothers and linked neonates with or without sepsis from low- and middle-income countries". Nature Microbiology. 7 (9): 1337–1347. doi:10.1038/s41564-022-01184-y. ISSN 2058-5276. PMC 9417982. PMID 35927336.
- ^ a b c d Kirby, Tony (March 2012). "Timothy Walsh: introducing the world to NDM-1". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 12 (3): 189. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(12)70044-0. PMID 22361430.
- ^ "New research provides compelling evidence of connection between AMR surgical-site infections and arthropods". Mirage News.
- ^ He, Tao; Wang, Ran; Liu, Dejun; Walsh, Timothy R.; Zhang, Rong; Lv, Yuan; Ke, Yuebin; Ji, Quanjiang; Wei, Ruicheng; Liu, Zhihai; Shen, Yingbo; Wang, Gang; Sun, Lichang; Lei, Lei; Lv, Ziquan; Li, Yun; Pang, Maoda; Wang, Liyuan; Sun, Qiaoling; Fu, Yulin; Song, Huangwei; Hao, Yuxin; Shen, Zhangqi; Wang, Shaolin; Chen, Gongxiang; Wu, Congming; Shen, Jianzhong; Wang, Yang (27 May 2019). "Emergence of plasmid-mediated high-level tigecycline resistance genes in animals and humans". Nature Microbiology. 4 (9): 1450–1456. doi:10.1038/s41564-019-0445-2. PMID 31133751. S2CID 256704595.
- ^ Mohapatra, P. R. (2013). "Metallo-β-lactamase 1 - why blame New Delhi & India?". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 137 (1): 213–215. PMC 3657891. PMID 23481076.
- ^ Walsh, Timothy R; Toleman, Mark A; Sarma, Jayanta B; Irfan, Seema; Woodford, Neil; Livermore, David M (November 2010). "New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1 – Authors' reply". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 10 (11): 752–754. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(10)70245-0.
- ^ Zhao, Qian; Li, Yiming; Tian, Yingxin; Shen, Yueyun; Wang, Shaolin; Zhang, Ying (10 February 2022). "Clinical Impact of Colistin Banning in Food Animal on mcr-1-Positive Enterobacteriaceae in Patients From Beijing, China, 2009–2019: A Long-Term Longitudinal Observational Study". Frontiers in Microbiology. 13. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.826624. PMC 8866948. PMID 35222338.
- ^ Walsh, Timothy Rutland (2022). "DSc - Timothy Rutland Walsh". University of Bristol.
- ^ Lane, Ellis (27 December 2019). "Gloucestershire's New Year's Honours list in full". GloucestershireLive. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ Milton, Rebecca; Gillespie, David; Dyer, Calie; Taiyari, Khadijeh; Carvalho, Maria J; Thomson, Kathryn; Sands, Kirsty; Portal, Edward A R; Hood, Kerenza; Ferreira, Ana; et al. (May 2022). "Neonatal sepsis and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries from a facility-based birth cohort: an international multisite prospective observational study". The Lancet Global Health. 10 (5): e661–e672. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00043-2. PMC 9023753. PMID 35427523.
- ^ University of Tasmania (10 November 2023). "University Alumni Award winners' far-reaching impacts". University of Tasmania.
- ^ "BALANCE Meeting Delegates | Ineos Oxford Institute". www.ineosoxford.ox.ac.uk.
- ^ "The AVIAR study | Ineos Oxford Institute". www.ineosoxford.ox.ac.uk.