Core expertise
Antimicrobial resistance
Biography
Kelly is based in the Department of Infectious Diseases, where she co-leads the Fundamental Microbial Genomics research program. She uses comparative genomics techniques and metabolic modelling to investigate the diversity of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes large numbers of hospital-associated infections.
She's particularly interested in diversity of surface antigens (targets for novel anti-Klebsiella vaccines and phage therapies), as well as the features and evolution of closely-related groups of K. pneumoniae, called “clones”, that seem to be associated with distinct behaviours and clinical risks (for example, some are particularly good at becoming drug-resistant, while others are particularly virulent).
