Dr Ewan Harrison, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Dr Harrison leads the Respiratory Virus and Microbiome Initiative (RVI) at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and is a group leader in Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He completed his PhD at the University of Leicester on the bacterial genomics and pathogenesis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. His post-doctoral work at the University of Cambridge focused on the genomic analysis of MRSA populations in animals and humans and tracking the transmission of MRSA in healthcare facilities. In 2018, he was awarded a UKRI Innovation Fellowship to develop his own research into the biological basis of S. aureus colonisation and the nasal microbiome. During the COVID-19 pandemic he coordinated the set-up of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, leading work on the ethics, data sharing and legal frameworks, and subsequently acted as Deputy Director with a focus on data linkage. His current research combines pathogen sequencing at scale, host genetics, and microbiome data along with electronic health records to understand pathogen biology, evolution and transmission.