Dr Thomas Belcher
- Title
- Teaching Fellow in Molecular Biosciences
- Location
- HUX174
Biography
Dr Thomas Belcher is a Teaching Fellow in Molecular Biosciences. He completed a Bsc (Hons) in Microbiology at the University of Bristol in 2013 followed by a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Bath in 2017. His PhD research was focussed on the metabolism of Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. Following his PhD, Dr Belcher worked at a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Pasteur Institute of Lille between 2017 and 2021 where he was researching heterologous effects of a live-attenuated vaccine against B. pertussis. From 2021 to 2024 he worked as a Post-doctoral Scientist at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford where he was researching the preclinical development of a vaccine against Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterial cause of gonorrhoea.
Research and scholarship
I am interested in novel vaccine development, specifically live-attenuated vaccines and heterologous effects. I am interested in understanding how live-attenuated vaccines can protect against diseases for which they were not designed, including allergic and autoimmune diseases. I am also interested in the immunology of human mucosal pathogens Bordetella pertussis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Teaching
I teach heavily on the Neuroscience programme on a wide range of topics. I also teach on the Microbiology and Immunology programme, specifically on vaccines, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and crosstalk between the microbiota and the immune system.
Publications
Head of School
Professor Pip Beard
Email: p.m.beard@keele.ac.uk
School address
School of Life Sciences
Huxley Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734414
Email: lifesciences.office@keele.ac.uk
Enquiries
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734414
Email: lifesciences.office@keele.ac.uk
You can find information about Programme Directors on our Contact us page.
A full list of School staff is available with details of individual rooms and telephone numbers, email addresses, details of research interests and other information.
