The Team

Group Members

We are a small, friendly group united by curiosity about the respiratory microbiome. Past and present members have gone on to positions in academia, the NHS, and industry worldwide.

Principal Investigator

Michael J Cox

Principal Investigator

Michael J Cox

Assistant Professor · Department of Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes · University of Birmingham

I work on understanding the lung microbiome in health and disease with the aim of changing this for patient benefit. My interest in the lung microbiome comes from my original training as a microbial ecologist studying the interactions between marine microbial communities and dissolved biogenic trace gases or polysaccharides in seawater gained during my PhD at the University of Warwick and first postdoc at the University of Liverpool. In 2008 I took a visiting fellow position at the University of California San Francisco using microbial ecology techniques to study communities in the lungs of people with Cystic Fibrosis. In 2010 I returned to the UK and worked with Professor Miriam Moffatt and Professor Bill Cookson at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, expanding this experience to a wide range of lung diseases before moving to birmingham to start my own group in 2019

UoB Profile ↗ ORCID ↗ Google Scholar ↗ PubMed ↗ Bluesky ↗

Current Members

The Team

Lauren Bowron

Postgraduate Researcher

Lauren Bowron

PhD student · University of Birmingham

My research focuses understanding how microbial communities shape respiratory disease, with a particular emphasis on how interactions within the lung microbiome influence infection, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and long-term airways disease outcomes. My interest in the relationship between microbial communities and chronic lung disease stems from my MSc research at the University of Calgary, where I studied incident infections with P. aeruginosa and S. maltophilia in the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung microbiome. In this work, I explored whether the CF lung microbiome was associated with the risk of incident infection development and persistence, which bridges microbial ecology with clinically relevant outcomes. My current PhD research investigates how resistance develops and spreads within the COPD lung microbiome by linking genomic data with real-world clinical outcomes. My work takes an integrative approach, combining whole-genome sequencing, culturomics, and phenotypic analysis to study AMR in chronic respiratory disease. Through this research, I aim to characterise resistance patterns, quantify the burden of AMR, and identify the key bacterial reservoirs driving its transmission.

Alongside my research, I value science communication and public engagement. I have taken part in community science events such as the Come to Campus Community Festival and have helped organise student-led research events including the MRC AIM Student Symposium and the School of III PGR Annual Science Symposium.”

ORCID ↗ LinkedIn ↗

Key Collaborators

Research Network

Our work is strengthened by close collaborations with researchers across the UK and internationally. These partnerships bring complementary expertise and shared questions about the respiratory microbiome.

University of Manchester

Dr Kylie Belchamber

Lecturer in Maternal and Fetal Health

Our collaboration with Kylie goes back to when she and Mike worked together as post-docs at Imperial College. Kylie is a macrophage biologist, who studies how macrophages function in health, and how dysfunction during disease can drive disease pathogenesis. Together, we are studying how macrophage phagocytosis of respiratory bacteria occurs, how this changes in respiratory disease, and how this acts as a selective force in lung ecology. This partnership enables us to understand both the host and microbiome aspects of respiratory disease, and strengthens our translational research.

Website ↗ ORCID ↗ Scholar ↗ PubMed ↗ Bluesky ↗

Group Alumni

Where Are They Now

Our former students and researchers have gone on to careers across academia, the NHS, biotech, and beyond. We are proud of every one of them.

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ORCID ↗ LinkedIn ↗

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ORCID ↗ LinkedIn ↗

[Start year] – [End year]

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"[Thesis title or project description]"

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