Dr Alexandra Woodacre

Alex began her career studying Microbiology at the University of Leeds, including a year’s work experience placement at the Public Health Laboratory Service in Preston, and graduated in 2003. She took a PhD position at the University of Leicester to study transcriptional regulation in the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans, and after her PhD was awarded she remained at Leicester in a variety of postdoctoral research positions including working on phase variation in the infectious bacteria Campylobacter jejuni and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Alex joined the University of Northampton as a Lecturer in 2017, became a Senior Lecturer in 2019 and Deputy Head of Science (Life Sciences) in 2020.

Alex’s research focuses on how infectious bacteria respond to changes in their environment and how this affects their ability to grow and cause disease in humans. She is interested in the very different responses of Campylobacter jejuni during colonisation of the chicken gut and of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the human lungs and bloodstream. These organisms are leading causes of gastroenteritis and pneumonia respectively, contributing to extremely high levels of disease and mortality worldwide.

Lewis Waterfield; Sports, Exercise and Life Science

Response of Streptococcus pneumoniae to metal and oxidative stresses.

Mett Smart; Sports, Exercise and Life Science

Bacterial Growth within Endoscope Channels between Reprocessing and Use: a scientific approach

Alex contributes to teaching on the following programmes, focusing on Microbiology, Epidemiology, Genetics and Molecular biology

• BSc Biological Science
• BSc Biomedical Science
• BSc Biochemistry
• BSc Health Science
• BSc Human Bioscience
• BSc Midwifery
• BSc Pharmacology
• MSc Molecular Medicine

Alex is module leader for the following modules:

• SLS2010 Health and Disease
• SLS2014 Techniques in Molecular Biology
• SLS2026 Infection & Immunity
• SLS3026 Medical Microbiology