Dr. Jonathan Cox Aston University, UK

Dr. Jonathan Cox is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and Director of the Mycobacterial Research Group at Aston University. Formerly he trained and worked in antibiotic drug discovery at the University of Birmingham, UK and GSK, ES. His research team are multidisciplinary with a diverse skill-set, spanning microbiology, biochemistry, molecular... read moregenetics, structural biology and drug discovery. His group have two main directions for their current research in terms of improving our understanding of mycobacterial physiology to inform drug discovery. The first is a project to better understand latent tuberculosis (TB) infection and how this physiological change contributes to a loss of sensitivity to many TB drugs. His group are using the technology they have developed to discover new small molecule inhibitors of latent TB that may one day make it into the clinic. The group's second research theme is in partnership with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where they are looking at a mycobacterial infection that is common in children and adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). M. abscessus is originally an environmental mycobacterium; however, it has found a pathogenic niche within the CF lung. His team are analysing clinical isolates for antibiotic sensitivities and using these organisms to inform the development of new treatment combinations.