Dr Simon Harris
Senior Staff Scientist
Alumni
This person is a member of Sanger Institute Alumni.
My current work is focussed on the genomics of pathogenic Neisseria and Mycobacteria, combining population genomics, epidemiology and phenotypic approaches to understand their evolution and transmission.
I am particularly interested in the ways bacteria adapt and thrive in the face of changing selective pressures such as moving between host species, transitioning between carriage and disease or in response to antimicrobial therapy. Improving our understanding of these processes of adaptation requires the application and development of innovative bioinformatic techniques to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the entire genomes of large bacterial populations.
During my time at the Institute I have worked on many innovative projects using genomic data to both reconstruct the historical spread of some of the most important causes of transmissible disease, and to illustrate the potential of whole genome sequencing in informing clinical practice in real-time.
My timeline
Senior Staff Scientist, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Staff Scientist, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
BBSRC Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, Newcastle University
PhD, University of Bristol
BSc Joint Honours in Biology and Geology, University of Bristol