Dr Kieran Bates is the EP Abraham Junior Research Fellow in Biological Sciences. As an undergraduate, he studied Biological Sciences at University College London. He then moved to Imperial College London to study for a PhD in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. His doctoral research examined the drivers of heterogeneity in an outbreak of a fungal pathogen of amphibians, with particular focus on the influence of the skin microbiota in shaping infection resistance. He subsequently went on to a Post-doc in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford before joining St Hilda’s as a JRF.

My research focuses on how microbes interact with each other, their environment and the multicellular hosts that they colonise over space and time. I use an experimental evolution framework to investigate how microbial community structure and function impacts resistance to infection and subsequently shapes host evolution.

Bates, K.A., Shelton, J.M.G., Mercier, V.L., Hopkins, K., Harrison, X.A., Petrovan, S.O., Fisher,M.C. (2019) Captivity and exposure to the emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans are linked to perturbation of the amphibian skin microbiome. Frontiers in Microbiology,10, 1834.  doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.01834.

Ghosh, P., Fisher, M.C.,Bates, K.A.(2018) Tackling emerging fungal threats:  a one health perspective. Frontiers in Genetics, 9, 376.  doi:  10.3389/fgene.2018.00376.

Bates, K.A., Clare, F.C.,  O’Hanlon,  S.,  Bosch,  J.,  Brookes,  L., Hopkins,  K.,  McLaughlin,  E., Daniel, E., Garner, T.W.J., Fisher, M.C., Harrison, X.A. (2018).  Amphibian chytridiomycosis outbreak dynamics are linked with host skin bacterial community structure. Nature Communications, 9, 693. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02967-w

O’Hanlon, S..(56 authors)..Bates, K.A..Fisher, M.C. (2018).  Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines. Science.  360(6389):621-627. doi:  10.1126/science.aar1965

Fisher, M.C., Ghosh, P., Shelton, J.M.G., Bates, K.A.et al.  (2018).  Development and worldwide use of a non-lethal and minimal population-level impact protocols for the isolation of chytrids from amphibians. Scientific Reports.  8, 7772.  doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24472-2.

Dillon,  M.J.,  Bowkett,  A.E.,  Bungard,  M.J.,  Beckman,  K.,  O’Brien,  M., Bates, K.A.,  Fisher, M.C., Stevens, J.R.  Thornton, C.R. (2017).  Tracking the amphibian pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium  salamandrivorans by using a highly specific monoclonal antibody  and  lateral-flow technology. Microbial  Biotechnology.   10(2):  381-394.   doi:10.1111/1751-7915.12464.