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Department of Veterinary Medicine

Cambridge Veterinary School
 

Biography

Tracy Wang did her PhD on the diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis in China and identification of novel cry genes jointly in Nankai University, China and Bayer Crop Science, Belgium.  Tracy was an Associated Professor in Microbiology at Nankai University before she came to the Department of Biochemistry of University of Cambridge as a Wellcome Trust Fellow in 2003 working on characterisation of virulence factors in Bt. Tracy moved to Professor Duncan Maskell's group at Vet School since 2006, worked on developing Salmonella vaccines expressing Campylobacter antigens for control of C. jejuni in poultry, then moved on a further grant using genome-wide analysis of Salmonella infecting livestock hosts, currently she is working on a BBSRC LOLA project on vaccine and diagnostic development of respiratory pathogens of pigs, mainly focus on Streptococcus suis.

 

Collaborators outside Cambridge:

Prof. Rui Zhou, HuaZhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, China

Dr. Roy Chaudhuri, University of Liverpool

 

Research

My research interests lie in the bacteria infectious diseases related filed. I have worked with various pathogens including Bacillus thuringiensis, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and currently working on an important pig respiratory and zoonotic pathogen S. suis.  I have successfully developed a Tn917 based technology to generate a S. suis  library containing more than 12,000 mutants.  Functional genomic study by screening the mutant library through in vivo organ culture system and using TraDIS (transposon directed insertion site sequencing) technology, together with the analysis of  the whole genome sequencing of 200 S. suis filed isolates, we aimed to identify genes important for S. suis colonisation in pigs, select new vaccine candidates and genetic markers for diagnostic tools.  

Publications

Key publications: 
  1. Wang J. H., Gardiol, N., Burr. T., Salmond. G. P. and Welch. M. 2007. RelA-dependent (p)ppGpp production controls exoenzyme synthesis in Erwinia carotovora subsp. Atroseptica. J Bacteriol. 189(21):7643-52.
  2. Wang J. H.*, Steggles J. R.and D. J. Ellar. 2008. Molecular characterization of virulence defects in Bacillus thuringiensis mutants. FEMS Microbiol Lett 280: 127–134. (*Corresponding author)
  3. Wang J*, Chaudhuri RR, Ellar DJ. 2010. Characterization of ISBth4, a functional new IS231 variant from Bacillus thuringiensis MEX312. Plasmid. 63: 46-52. (*Corresponding author)
  4. Buckley AM, Wang J*, Hudson DL, Grant AJ, Jones MA, Maskell DJ & Stevens MP. 2010. Evaluation of live-attenuated Salmonella vaccines expressing Campylobacter antigens for control of C. jejuni in poultry. Vaccine, 28(4):1094-105. (* joint first author)
  5. S.E. Peters, G.K. Paterson, E.S.D. Bandularatne, H.C. Northen, S. Pleasance, C. Willers, J. Wang, A.K. Foote, F. Constantino-Casas, T.J. Scase, B.A. Blacklaws, C.E.Bryant, P. Mastroeni, I.G. Charles and D.J. Maskell. 2010. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium trxA mutants are protective against virulent challenge and induce less inflammation than the live-attenuated vaccine strain SL3261. Infec Immun 78(1):326-36.
  6. Chaudhuri RR, Morgan E, Peters SE, Pleasance SJ, Hudson DL, Davies HM, Wang J, van Diemen PM, Buckley AM, Bowen AJ, Pullinger GD, Turner DJ, Langridge GC, Turner AK, Parkhill J, Charles IG, Maskell DJ, Stevens MP. 2013. Comprehensive assignment of roles for Salmonella typhimurium genes in intestinal colonization of food-producing animals. PLoS Genet. Apr;9(4):e1003456
Dr Tracy (J.H.)  Wang

Contact Details

Email address: 
01223 337688
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Collaborator profiles: 
Classifications: 
Specialities: 
Local Affiliations: 
Person keywords: 
Pathogens
Genomics
Antimicrobial resistance
Vaccines