Dr Skvortsov’s team studies bacterial viruses and bacteriophage-derived antimicrobial agents for the detection, control and elimination of pathogenic bacteria and their biofilms. We explore novel ways to use bacteriophages and their enzymes for medical and biotechnological applications. We develop novel computational tools and methods to characterise viruses, including phages.

Other areas of interest include:

• Environmental viromics
• Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics of complex microbial communities
• Horizontal gene transfer of antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants
• Synthetic microbiology