World-class research based on a distinctive, interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and technology, and the arts and humanities.
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BSc (HONS) 1st Microbiology NUI Galway 1998
PhD Medical Microbiology University of Edinburgh 2003
Post-Doctoral Researcher University of Edinburgh 2003 - 2005
Health Research Board Fellow & Post-Doctoral Researcher Trinity College Dublin 2005 - 2009
Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher Swiss Federal Department of Agriculture Research Station 2009 - 2013
Research Interests
Understanding antibiotics and resistance from source to sink. The world of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance is not confined to human pathogens. The research of this laboratory investigates different microbiomes (human, animal and environmental) as reservoirs of current and novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms and antibiotics. In parallel we investigate novel ways of identifying new antibacterials and antibiotics using a variety of approaches and tracing antibiotic resistance mechanisms through the food chain or other pathways into the human microbiome. The goals include identifying reservoirs of current and future antibiotic resistance, understanding how these are selected and spread from outside the patient/hospital to within human pathogens and to provide answers to the questions: what and where are the origins of antibiotic resistances and how do they get from there to humans? The antibiotic discovery process uses the knowledge of resistance to design and discover new and improved antibacterial agents. Techniques include microbiology, molecular biology, metagenomics and functional metagenomics.
Research Projects
Title
Role
Description
Start date
End date
Amount
Research Gap Analysis Antimicrobial Resistance and the Environment
PI
02/10/2020
02/06/2021
3380
Animal artificial microbiome platform
PI
01/09/2020
31/12/2020
13712
ADDITIONAL FUNDING-Bioinformatics analysis
PI
The main aims of the Project
Microbiome and metagenome analysis of data already generated by Alltech to understand the following three topics:
(1) Bacterial uniformity
(2) Diversity, functionality and pathogen resistance
(3) Functional antimicrobial resistance
25/08/2020
26/08/2021
367404.9
COVID19 sequencing epidemiology
PI
01/05/2020
31/10/2020
ANTIVERSA (Stage 2)
PI
03/02/2020
02/12/2022
149862.7
Genomics to Investigate Risks of Toxin-Producing Vibrio in Irish Shellfish
PI
01/02/2020
31/10/2022
13000
Analysis of antimicrobial resistance risk in private drinking water supplies (ref:2019-W-PhD-14)
PI
Co- fund 50:50. Fiona has confirmed the Human Health Institute will fund the MU 50 %.
01/10/2019
30/09/2023
192000
Bioinformatics analysis
PI
01/09/2019
31/08/2020
367404.9
Cofund EPA Maynooth University
PI
Our EU Water JPI project (Stare) identified specific mobile antibiotic resistance (AR) genes and bacteria in the effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Ireland and the EU. These AR genes pose a threat to the treatment of human and animal infections if they transfer to pathogenic bacteria as they confer resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. The objective of this proposal is to identify the capabilities of these AR mechanisms carried on mobile DNA (plasmids) to survive in downstream water when they are released from WWTPs. This will be achieved by characterising the genetic components of the collected AR plasmids, analysing the collected plasmids for their ability to survive in receiving water and under antibiotic pressure similar to that identified in the WWTP effluents and identifying the plasmids capable of surviving and transferring to both resident water bacteria and pathogenic bacteria. The potential applications of the research findings are to describe the plasmids and AR genes emerging from WWTPs, which pose the greatest risk to human and animal health and further dissemination in the environment. This data is vital, as AR is becoming more important in water regulation as an emerging contaminant and further in the future we will need to identify what needs to be measured as a risk and to enable risk assessment models to be developed.
07/01/2019
06/01/2023
208000
Antimicrobial Resistance and the Environment – Sources, persistence, Transmission and risk management
PI
Consortium bid, led by NUIG.
Large Project - 48 months - budget €649,999.70 (under maximum of €1 million).
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognised as one the greatest threats to human health as acknowledged in a series of authoritative reports in Ireland and elsewhere. The EPA have published guidance to minimise the risk of contamination of groundwaters associated with
landspreading of organic waste. This project aims to address some of these knowledge gaps.
31/03/2018
28/02/2022
35510
INART: JPI AMR (Stage 2)
PI
01/01/2018
31/12/2020
325441
StARE: Stopping Antibiotic Resistance Evolution
PI
149948.39
PRAHAD: Prevalence and optimised detection of resistance to antibiotics vital for animal and human health
PI
246937.18
Tracking antibiotic resistance from environmental reservoirs to the food chain
PI
113718
EI Coordination Support
PI
12/11/2018
11/08/2019
12060
Antibiotic discovery in soil bacteria
PI
Characterising the inhibition profile of a novel antibacterial
16/07/2018
07/09/2018
2153
Comparative risk of antimicrobial resistance transfer from poultry, pig and bovine manure to grassland
Delaney, S; Murphy, R; Walsh, F (2019) 'Transposon-Aided Capture of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids from Complex Samples' In: MICROBIAL TRANSPOSON MUTAGENESIS: PROTOCOLS AND APPLICATIONS. TOTOWA : HUMANA PRESS INC. [DOI]
2017
Do T.; Murphy S.; Walsh F. (2017) 'Antibiotic Resistance and Wastewater Treatment Process' In: Antimicrobial Resistance in Wastewater Treatment Processes. [DOI]
2017
Walsh F. (2017) 'Functional metagenomics and antimicrobial resistance' In: Functional Metagenomics: Tools and Applications. [DOI]
Edited Book
Year
Publication
2015
Fiona Walsh (Ed.). (2015) The Multiple Roles of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance in Nature. Switzerland: Frontiers in Microbiology, [DOI]
Peer Reviewed Journal
Year
Publication
2023
Do TT; Smyth C; Crispie F; Burgess C; Brennan F; Walsh F; (2023) 'Comparison of soil and grass microbiomes and resistomes reveals grass as a greater antimicrobial resistance reservoir than soil'. Science of the Total Environment, 857 (Pt 1). [DOI]
2022
Leigh RJ; Corrigan A; Murphy RA; Walsh F; (2022) 'Effect of Mannan-rich fraction supplementation on commercial broiler intestinum tenue and cecum microbiota'. Animal Microbiome, 4 (1). [DOI]
2022
Smyth C.; Leigh R.J.; Delaney S.; Murphy R.A.; Walsh F. (2022) 'Shooting hoops: globetrotting plasmids spreading more than just antimicrobial resistance genes across One Health'. Microbial Genomics, 8 (8). [DOI]
2022
Leigh R.J.; McKenna C.; McWade R.; Lynch B.; Walsh F. (2022) 'Comparative genomics and pangenomics of vancomycin-resistant and susceptible Enterococcus faecium from Irish hospitals'. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 71 (10). [DOI]
2022
Do T.T.; Nolan S.; Hayes N.; O'Flaherty V.; Burgess C.; Brennan F.; Walsh F. (2022) 'Metagenomic and HT-qPCR analysis reveal the microbiome and resistome in pig slurry under storage, composting, and anaerobic digestion'. Environmental Pollution, 305 . [DOI]
2021
Muna F Anjum, Heike Schmitt, Stefan Börjesson, Thomas U Berendonk, Fiona Walsh, WAWES network (2021) 'The potential of using E. coli as an indicator for the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment'. Current Opinion in Microbiology, . [DOI]
2021
Margalit A; Carolan JC; Walsh F; (2021) 'Global protein responses of multi-drug resistant plasmid containing Escherichia coli to ampicillin, cefotaxime, imipenem and ciprofloxacin'. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance, . [DOI][Full-Text]
2021
Gekenidis M.T.; Walsh F.; Drissner D. (2021) 'Tracing antibiotic resistance genes along the irrigation water chain to chive: Does tap or surface water make a difference?'. Journal of Antibiotics, 10 (9). [DOI]
2021
Delaney S.; Do T.T.; Corrigan A.; Murphy R.; Walsh F. (2021) 'Investigation into the effect of mannan-rich fraction supplementation on the metagenome of broiler chickens'. Microbial Genomics, 7 (7). [DOI][Full-Text]
2021
Funk T.; Pharris A.; Spiteri G.; Bundle N.; Melidou A.; Carr M.; Gonzalez G.; Garcia-Leon A.; Crispie F.; O’Connor L.; Murphy N.; Mossong J.; Vergison A.; Wienecke-Baldacchino A.K.; Abdelrahman T.; Riccardo F.; Stefanelli P.; Di Martino A.; Bella A.; Lo Presti A.; Casaca P.; Moreno J.; Borges V.; Isidro J.; Ferreira R.; Gomes J.P.; Dotsenko L.; Suija H.; Epstein J.; Sadikova O.; Sepp H.; Ikonen N.; Savolainen-Kopra C.; Blomqvist S.; Möttönen T.; Helve O.; Gomes-Dias J.; Adlhoch C.; Macori G.; Russell L.; Yandle Z.; Bennett C.; O'Byrne E.; Murphy A.; Tuite G.; Conroy A.; Duffy M.; Morley U.; Keoghan B.; Ford I.; Kennedy M.; McDonnell S.; Flynn A.; Clarke A.; Crowley A.; Martin C.; Kelly E.; Foxton J.; Hare D.; Dunford L.; Connell J.; Moran J.; Dean J.; Fanning S.; Rajan L.; De Gascun C.; Kenny J.; Cotter P.; Walsh C.; Lawton E.; Fitzpatrick A.; Mullins E.; Della Bartola M.; McCabe M.; Stapleton P.; Meaney C.; Fanning L.; Prentice M.; MacSharry J.; Dempsey C.; Mallon P.; Leon A.; Chaturvedi A.; Coughlan S.; McAndrew G.; Reddington K.; Walsh F.; Fitzpatrick D.; Smyth C.; O’Dwyer T.; Chambers T.; Clarke L.; Jebb D.; Klopp J.; Kavanagh D.; Haslam K.; Buckley P.; Lemass K.; Fitzpatrick F.; Burns K. (2021) 'Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7, B.1.351 or P.1: data from seven EU/EEA countries, weeks 38/2020 to 10/2021'. Eurosurveillance, 26 (16). [DOI]
2020
Smyth C; O'Flaherty A; Walsh F; Do TT; (2020) 'Antibiotic resistant and extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing faecal coliforms in wastewater treatment plant effluent'. Environmental Pollution, 262 . [DOI][Full-Text]
2020
Purchase, D; Abbasi, G; Bisschop, L; Chatterjee, D; Ekberg, C; Ermolin, M; Fedotov, P; Garelick, H; Isimekhai, K; Kandile, NG; Lundstrom, M; Matharu, A; Miller, BW; Pineda, A; Popoola, OE; Retegan, T; Ruedel, H; Serpe, A; Sheva, Y; Surati, KR; Walsh, F; Wilson, BP; Wong, MH (2020) 'Global occurrence, chemical properties, and ecological impacts of e-wastes (IUPAC Technical Report)'. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 92 :1733-1767. [DOI][Full-Text]
2020
Eissenberger K.; Drissner D.; Walsh F.; Weiss A.; Schmidt H. (2020) 'Plant variety and soil type influence Escherichia coli O104:H4 strain C227/11ϕcu adherence to and internalization into the roots of lettuce plants'. Food Microbiology, 86 . [DOI][Full-Text]
2020
Rodriguez-Mozaz S.; Vaz-Moreira I.; Varela Della Giustina S.; Llorca M.; Barceló D.; Schubert S.; Berendonk T.U.; Michael-Kordatou I.; Fatta-Kassinos D.; Martinez J.L.; Elpers C.; Henriques I.; Jaeger T.; Schwartz T.; Paulshus E.; O'Sullivan K.; Pärnänen K.M.M.; Virta M.; Do T.T.; Walsh F.; Manaia C.M. (2020) 'Antibiotic residues in final effluents of European wastewater treatment plants and their impact on the aquatic environment'. Environmental International, 140 . [DOI][Full-Text]
2020
Gekenidis, MT; Rigotti, S; Hummerjohann, J; Walsh, F; Drissner, D (2020) 'Long-Term Persistence of bla(CTX-M-15) in Soil and Lettuce after Introducing Extended-Spectrum beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-Producing Escherichia coli via Manure or Water'. Microorganisms, 8 . [DOI][Full-Text]
T T Do, S Delaney, F Walsh (2019) '16S rRNA based bacterial community structure of wastewater treatment plant effluents'. Fems Microbiology Letters, . [DOI][Full-Text]
2019
Tyrrell C; Burgess CM; Brennan FP; Walsh F; (2019) 'Antibiotic resistance in grass and soil'. Biochemical Society Transactions, 47 (1). [DOI]
2019
Delaney S.; Murphy R.; Walsh F. (2019) 'Transposon-Aided Capture of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids from Complex Samples'. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2016 :151-157. [DOI]
2018
Gekenidis MT; Schöner U; von Ah U; Schmelcher M; Walsh F; Drissner D; (2018) 'Tracing back multidrug-resistant bacteria in fresh herb production: from chive to source through the irrigation water chain'. FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, . [DOI][Full-Text]
Delaney S.; Murphy R.; Walsh F. (2018) 'A comparison of methods for the extraction of plasmids capable of conferring antibiotic resistance in a human pathogen from complex broiler cecal samples'. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9 (AUG). [DOI][Full-Text]
2018
Walsh F.; Richards P. (2018) 'Antimicrobial resistance and one health'. Microbiology Today, 45 (1):38-39. [Full-Text]
2018
Antti Karkman, Thi Thuy Do, Fiona Walsh, Marko PJ Virta (2018) 'Antibiotic resistance genes in waste water'. Trends in Microbiology, . [Link][Full-Text]
2017
Thi Thuy Do, Javier Tamames, Robert Stedtfeld, Xueping Guo, Sinead Murphy, James Tiedje, Fiona Walsh (2017) 'Antibiotic Resistance Gene Detection in the Microbiome Context'. Microbial Drug Resistance, . [DOI][Full-Text]
2016
Fitzpatrick D; Walsh F; (2016) 'Antibiotic resistance genes across a wide variety of metagenomes'. FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, 92 (2). [DOI][Full-Text]
2016
Thanner S.; Drissner D.; Walsh F. (2016) 'Antimicrobial resistance in agriculture'. mBio, 7 (2). [DOI][Full-Text]
2015
Fiona Fouhy, Catherine Stanton, Paul David Cotter, Colin Hill, Dr Fiona Walsh (2015) 'Proteomics as the final step in the functional metagenomics study of antimicrobial resistance'. 3 . [DOI][Full-Text]
2015
Dunbar J.; Zarelli M.; Martin S.; Gandola R.; Kavanagh K.; Walsh F.; Rivas J. (2015) 'Trunk vertebrae osteomyelitis in a spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus)'. Herpetological Bulletin, (134):15-18. [Full-Text]
2015
Weiss, A; Scheller, F; Oggenfuss, M; Walsh, F; Frey, JE; Drissner, D; Schmidt, H (2015) 'ANALYSIS OF THE BACTERIAL EPIPHYTIC MICROBIOTA OF OAK LEAF LETTUCE WITH 16S RIBOSOMAL RNA GENE ANALYSIS'. Journal Of Microbiology Biotechnology And Food Sciences, 5 :271-276. [DOI][Full-Text]
Walsh F.; Pelludat C.; Duffy B.; Smith D.; Owens S.; Frey J.; Holliger E. (2014) 'Impact of streptomycin applications on antibiotic resistance in apple orchards | Einfluss von streptomycin in apfelanlagen auf antibiotika-resistenzen in der umwelt'. Agrarforschung Schweiz, 5 (7-8):300-305. [Full-Text]
2014
B. Duffy, E. Holliger, Dr Fiona Walsh (2014) 'Streptomycin use in apple orchards did not increase the abundance of mobile resistance genes'. Fems Microbiology Letters, 350 :180-189. [Full-Text]
2014
Dr Fiona Walsh, C. Pelludat, B. Duffy, D.P. Smith, S.M. Owens, J.E. Frey, E. Holliger. (2014) 'Einfluss von Streptomycin in Apfelanlagen auf Antibiotika-Resistenzen in der Umwelt. Agrarforschung Schweiz'. To be added, 5 :300-305. [Full-Text]
2014
J.A. Bunge, A. Willis, F. Walsh (2014) 'Estimating the Number of Species in Microbial Diversity Studies'. 1 :427-445. [Full-Text]
2014
Dr Fiona Walsh, D.P. Smith, S.M. Owens, B. Duffy, J.E. Frey (2014) 'Restricted streptomycin use in apple orchards did not adversely alter the soil bacteria communities'. 4 . [Full-Text]
2013
Dr Fiona Walsh (2013) 'Investigating antibiotic resistance in non-clinical environments'. Frontiers in Microbiology, . [DOI][Full-Text]
2013
Dr Fiona Walsh (2013) 'A brief multi-disciplinary review on antimicrobial resistance in medicine and its linkage to the global environmental microbiota'. Frontiers in Microbiology, 4 . [DOI][Full-Text]
2013
Dr Fiona Walsh, SG Amyes, B Duffy (2013) 'Challenging the concept of bacteria subsisting on antibiotics'. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 41 :558-563. [Full-Text]
2013
Dr Fiona Walsh, B. Duffy (2013) 'The culturable soil antibiotic resistome: A community of multi-drug resistant bacteria'. PLoS ONE, 8 . [Full-Text]
2012
M. Popowska, M. Rzeczycka, A. Miernik, A. Krawczyk-Balska, F. Walsh, B. Duffy (2012) 'Influence of soil use on prevalence of tetracycline, streptomycin, and erythromycin resistance and associated resistance genes'. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 56 :1434-1443. [DOI][Full-Text]
2012
Dr Fiona Walsh, TR Rogers (2012) 'Comparison of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance and extended spectrum beta-lactamases in 3rd generation cephalosporin resistant Enterobacteriaceae from four Irish hospitals'. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 61 :142-147. [DOI][Full-Text]
2011
Dr Fiona Walsh, A Ingenfeld, M. Zampicolli, M. Hilber-Bodmer, J. E. Frey, B. Duffy. (2011) 'Real-time PCR methods for quantitative monitoring of streptomycin and tetracycline resistance genes in agricultural ecosystems'. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 86
:150-155. [DOI][Full-Text]
2011
B. Duffy, F. Walsh, C. Pelludat, E. Holliger, J. Ouvelet, F. Widmer. (2011) 'Environmental monitoring of antibiotic resistance and impact of streptomycin use on orchard bacterial communities'. Acta Horticulturae, 3 :483-488.
2010
F. Walsh, N. M. Cooke, S.G. Smith, G. P. Moran, F. J. Cooke, A. Ivens, J. Wain, T. R. Rogers. (2010) 'Comparison of two DNA microarrays for detection of plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance and virulence factor genes in clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae and non-Enterobacteriaceae'. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 35 :593-598. [DOI][Full-Text]
2009
T.W. Boo, F. Walsh, B. Crowley. (2009) 'Molecular characterization of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species in an Irish university hospital: predominance of Acinetobacter genomic species 3'. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 58 :209-216. [DOI][Full-Text]
2008
F. Walsh, T. R. Rogers. (2008) 'Detection of blaVIM-2 carbapenemase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Ireland. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy'. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 61 :219-229. [Full-Text]
2008
C. Roche, T.W. Boo, F. Walsh, B. Crowley. (2008) 'Detection and molecular characterisation of plasmidic AmpC β-lactamases in Klebsiella pneumoniae from a tertiary care hospital in Dublin, Ireland'. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 14 :616-618. [Full-Text]
2007
Walsh F; (2007) 'Doripenem: A new carbapenem antibiotic a review of comparative antimicrobial and bactericidal activities'. Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, 3 (5). [Full-Text]
2007
Amyes SG; Walsh FM; Bradley JS; (2007) 'Best in class: a good principle for antibiotic usage to limit resistance development?'. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 59 (5). [DOI][Full-Text]
2007
F. Walsh and S.G.B. Amyes. (2007) 'Carbapenem resistance in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa'. 19 :376-381.
2007
F. Walsh, S. Bracher, P. Turner, S. Amyes. (2007) 'Preferential selection of IMP and VIM metallo-β-lactamases by imipenem in Pseudomonas aeruginosa'. Journal of Chemotherapy, 53 :407-409. [Full-Text]
2006
T. W. Boo, F. Walsh, B. Crowley. (2006) 'First report of OXA-23 carbapenemase in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter species in the Irish Republic'. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 58 :1101-1102. [Full-Text]
2005
F. Walsh, S. Bracher, P. Turner, S. G. Amyes. (2005) 'Epidemiological analysis of carbapenem-sensitive and -resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa'. Journal of Hospital Infection, 60 :240-244. [Full-Text]
2004
.F. Walsh, F. Carnegy, J. Willcock, S. Amyes. (2004) 'Comparative in vitro activity of telithromycin against macrolide-resistant and -susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae'. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 53 :793-796. [Full-Text]
2004
Walsh FM; Amyes SG; (2004) 'Microbiology and drug resistance mechanisms of fully resistant pathogens'. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 7 (5). [DOI][Full-Text]
2003
F. Walsh, A. K. Amyes, S. G. Amyes. (2003) 'The in vitro effects of faropenem on lower respiratory tract pathogens isolated in the United Kingdom'. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 21 :581-584. [Full-Text]
2003
F. Walsh, J. Willcock, S. Amyes. (2003) 'High-level telithromycin resistance in laboratory-generated mutants of Streptococcus pneumoniae'. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 52 :345-353. [Full-Text]
2002
F. Walsh, J. Willcock, S. G. Amyes. (2002) 'Culturing Chlamydophila pneumoniae'. 14 :312-313. [Full-Text]
Editorial
Year
Publication
2013
Walsh, F (2013) The multiple roles of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in nature. LAUSANNE: ED [DOI]
2007
Amyes S.; Walsh F.; Bradley J. (2007) Best in class: A good principle for antibiotic usage to limit resistance development?. ED [DOI]
Reviews
Year
Publication
2022
Alawi M.; Torrijos T.V.; Walsh F. (2022) Plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance in drinking water. REV [DOI]
2019
Tyrrell C.; Burgess C.; Brennan F.; Walsh F. (2019) Antibiotic resistance in grass and soil. REV [DOI]