Staff Profile

After obtaining a degree in physics, I worked in the manufacturing industry for several years where I was responsible for the worldwide delivery of high-value scientific installation projects. My industrial experience has made me extremely pragmatic, and results focused. I have a PhD in biochemical spectroscopy and using High Power Computing (HPC) to perform computational chemistry. I continued in biochemistry with a half-time postdoctoral position in New York before moving to Peru, teaching myself bioinformatics and reorientating my research to genomics, setting up a bioinformatics capability in an established genetics research laboratory, which I applied to the investigation of glaucoma and human populations.

I returned to the UK in 2016 to take up a post-doctoral research position based jointly at the Earlham Institute and Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norwich, working on pathogen evolution which has reset my career trajectory. I joined the University of Leeds as a lecturer in bacterial genomics in July 2022.

My work concerns the evolution of pathogenicity and its impact on the epidemiology of bacterial pathogens and also method development of tools to detect horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.

I am also developing the application of single-cell whole genome sequencing to in-vitro evolution studies focussing on the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.

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• Articles

  • Klemm EJ, Nisar MI, Bawn M, Nasrin D, Qamar FN, Page A, Qadri F, Shakoor S, Zaidi AKM, Levine MM, Dougan G, Kingsley RA. Genomic analysis of clinical Aeromonas isolates reveals genetic diversity but little evidence of genetic determinants for diarrhoeal disease. Microbial Genomics 2024, 10(3), 001211.
  • Thilliez G, Mashe T, Chaibva BV, Robertson V, Bawn M, Tarupiwa A, Takawira FT, Kock MM, Midzi S, Mwamakamba LW, Matheu J, Juru A, Kingsley RA, Ehlers MM. Population structure of Salmonella enterica Typhi in Harare, Zimbabwe (2012–19) before typhoid conjugate vaccine roll-out: a genomic epidemiology study. The Lancet Microbe 2023, 4(12), e1005-e1014.
  • Van Puyvelde S, de Block T, Sridhar S, Bawn M, Kingsley RA, Ingelbeen B, Beale MA, Barbe B, Jeon HJ, Mbuyi-Kalonji L, Phoba M-F, Falay D, Martiny D, Vandenberg O, Affolabi D, Rutanga JP, Ceyssens P-J, Mattheus W, Cuypers WL, van der Sande MAB, Park SE, Kariuki S, Otieno K, Lusingu JPA, Mbwana JR, Adjei S, Sarfo A, Agyei SO, Asante KP, Otieno W, Otieno L, Tahita MC, Lompo P, Hoffman IF, Mvalo T, Msefula C, Hassan-Hanga F, Obaro S, Mackenzie G, Deborggraeve S, Feasey N, Marks F, MacLennan CA, Thomson NR, Jacobs J, Dougan G, Kariuki S, Lunguya O. A genomic appraisal of invasive Salmonella Typhimurium and associated antibiotic resistance in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Communications 2023, 14(1), 6392.
  • Kirkwood M, Vohra P, Bawn M, Thilliez G, Pye H, Tanner J, Chintoan-Uta C, Branchu P, Petrovska L, Dallman T, Hall N, Stevens MP, Kingsley RA. Ecological niche adaptation of Salmonella Typhimurium U288 is associated with altered pathogenicity and reduced zoonotic potential. Communications Biology 2021, 4, 498.
  • Tassinari E, Bawn M, Thilliez G, Charity O, Acton L, Kirkwood M, Petrovska L, Dallman T, Burgess CM, Hall N, Duffy G, Kingsley RA. Whole-genome epidemiology links phage-mediated acquisition of a virulence gene to the clonal expansion of a pandemic Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium clone. Microbial Genomics 2020, 6(11), 1-15.
  • Bawn M, Alikhan N-F, Thilliez G, Kirkwood M, Wheeler NE, Petrovska L, Dallman TJ, Adriaenssens EM, Hall N, Kingsley RA. Evolution of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium driven by anthropogenic selection and niche adaptation. PLoS Genetics 2020, 16(6), e1008850.
  • Pinotti T, Bergstrom A, Geppert M, Bawn M, Ohasi D, Shi W, Lacerda DR, Solli A, Norstedt J, Reed K, Dawtry K, Gonzalez-Andrade F, Paz-y-Mino C, Revollo S, Cuellar C, Jota MS, Santos JE, Ayub Q, Kivisild T, Sandoval JR, Fujita R, Xue Y, Roewer L, Santos FR, Tyler-Smith C. Y Chromosome Sequences Reveal a Short Beringian Standstill, Rapid Expansion, and early Population structure of Native American Founders. Current Biology 2019, 29(1), 149-157.e3.
  • Branchu P, Charity OJ, Bawn M, Thilliez G, Dallman TJ, Petrovska L, Kingsley RA. SGI-4 in monophasic Salmonella typhimurium ST34 is a novel ice that enhances resistance to copper. Frontiers in Microbiology 2019, 10, 1118.
  • Tassinari E, Duffy G, Bawn M, Burgess CM, McCabe EM, Lawlor PG, Gardiner G, Kingsley RA. Microevolution of antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation of Salmonella Typhimurium during persistence on pig farms. Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 8832.
  • Karlinsey JE, Stepien TA, Mayho M, Singletary LA, Bingham-Ramos LK, Brehm MA, Greiner DL, Shultz LD, Gallagher LA, Bawn M, Kingsley RA, Libby SJ, Fang FC. Genome-wide Analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi in Humanized Mice Reveals Key Virulence Features. Cell Host and Microbe 2019, 26(3), 426-434.e6.
  • Branchu P, Bawn M, Kingsley RA. Genome variation and molecular epidemiology of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium pathovariants. Infection and Immunity 2018, 86(8), e00079-18.

• Review

  • Bawn M, Dent D, Bourne PE. Ten simple rules for using entrepreneurship skills to improve research careers and culture. PLoS Computational Biology 2022, 18(4), e1009946.