Dr Lewis Mason | Kingston University London

Dr Lewis C. E. Mason is primarily interested in research regarding the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistant, sexually transmissible bacterial pathogens. He employs both wet-laboratory experimentation and computational bioinformatics (microbial genomics, genomic epidemiology, and phylogenetics) in his research.

He focusses on both sexually transmissible enteric bacterial pathogens (Shigella spp., Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., several pathotypes of Escherichia coli) and traditionally-considered sexually transmissible pathogens (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, Chlamydia trachomatis, etc.). Infectious diseases of particular interest to him are shigellosis, campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, among others.

Foodborne and waterborne antimicrobial resistant bacterial pathogens of interest to him also include Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes, and Helicobacter pylori. 

His expertise and research interests also span across several One Health topics, particularly in regards to bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and interactions among the environment, food, water, animals, and humans.

Commonly used techniques in his research group include phylogenetic tree construction, antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), microbial genomics, long-read and short-read sequencing, microbial genome assembly, antimicrobial resistance gene presence/absence analyses, AMR and virulence plasmid dynamic analyses, among others.

He values both national and international collaborative activities across the entirety of bacteriology research. He ensures that his research is directly beneficial for patient and public health by involving colleagues with clinical expertise in his research, and the views of patients and the public via patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) activities, from the conceptualisation stage of research onwards through to the output stage.

He is currently accepting correspondence from prospective MSc(Res) and PhD students, prospective collaborators, and media representatives ([email protected]).