Directory of Experts
Details for Professor Howard Jenkinson
| Personal details | |
| Name | Professor Howard Jenkinson |
| Job title | Emeritus Professor |
| Department | Bristol Dental School University of Bristol |
| Contact details | This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations
Office. To help us deal with your request, please mention the Directory of Experts when contacting the Public Relations Office. work+44 (0)117 331 8092 email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk |
| Qualifications | B.Sc.(Warw.), Ph.D.(Nott.) |
| Professional details | |
| Membership of professional bodies | Society for General Microbiology UK American Society for Microbiology International Association for Dental Research British Society for Oral and Dental Research British Society for Medical Mycology Society of Biology |
| Keywords | microbiology and medicine Streptococcus Candida dentistry and microbiology heart disease and infections oral diseases biofilms |
| Areas of expertise | I have worked for 25 years studying mechanisms by which microbes (bacteria and fungi) cause infections. My primary expertise is with Streptococcus bacteria, which cause dental decay, sore throat, ear infections, tonsillitis, meningitis, pneumonia and cardiovascular disease. I also research the fungus Candida which causes thrush, denture sore mouth, and infections in hospital that are often fatal. The aim of my research is to gain better understanding of the mechanisms by which these microbes cause disease. We use various laboratory models for our studies, trying to reproduce more or less exactly conditions within the human body. We then hope to identify vaccines or pharmaceuticals that will be able to target the essential disease-causing mechanisms and thus control infections by these microbial agents. I also have broader expertise internationally in microbiology having been editor for several scientific journals and a long-standing member on Council for the UK Society of General Microbiology. |
| Media experience | Interviewed live on Radio 5 live and on Radio 4 Today programme, and for educational podcasts. Provided interviews with numerous media agents mainly by telephone (or email), with subsequent reports published in the scientifc press, daily press, weekend magazines, and lifestyle publications such as Top Sante. |