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Dr Andreas Haag

Lecturer

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 3846

Email

afh22@st-andrews.ac.uk

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Research areas

Research areas

Bacterial infections remain a major global health challenge, causing millions of deaths each year. The remarkable ability of bacterial pathogens to adapt to changing environments, evade host defences and acquire new traits is driven by complex interactions between bacterial regulatory networks and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), including bacteriophages, pathogenicity islands and plasmids. These interactions shape bacterial evolution, virulence, antimicrobial resistance and the emergence of new pathogenic lineages.

Our research seeks to understand how bacterial pathogens make decisions. We investigate the regulatory networks that determine when bacteria exchange DNA, express virulence factors, respond to environmental stress or interact with bacteriophages. By uncovering the principles that govern these decisions, we aim to predict bacterial evolution and identify new opportunities to prevent and treat bacterial infections.

Using Staphylococcus aureus as a primary model pathogen, we combine molecular microbiology, bacterial genetics, quantitative microbiology, genomics and systems-level approaches to understand theÌýregulatory ecology of bacterial pathogens - how bacteria and their mobile genetic elements cooperate, compete and communicate to coordinate adaptation during infection.

Ultimately, our goal is to uncover fundamental principles of bacterial adaptation that can be harnessed to manipulate bacterial behaviour and inspire new approaches for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

Our research focuses on:

• Deciphering the regulatory networks that coordinate interactions between bacterial hosts and their mobile genetic elements.
• Determining how bacteriophages and other mobile genetic elements influence bacterial evolution, horizontal gene transfer and genome plasticity.
• Defining how bacterial regulatory networks shape virulence, adaptation and pathogenesis.
• Applying these discoveries to develop innovative antimicrobial, phage-based and diagnostic strategies against bacterial infections.

PhD supervision

• LucyÌýWayne

Selected publications

• Open access
  Rivas Ramos, J. E., Johnston, P. R., Hammond, R. J. H., Holden, M. T. G., Sloan, D. J. & Haag, A. F., 28 Jan 2026, In: Access Microbiology. 8, 1, p. 1-4 4 p., 001110.v3.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Podkowik, M., Perault, A. I., Putzel, G., Pountain, A., Kim, J., DuMont, A. L., Zwack, E. E., Ulrich, R. J., Karagounis, T. K., Zhou, C., Haag, A. F., Shenderovich, J., Wasserman, G. A., Kwon, J., Chen, J., Richardson, A. R., Weiser, J. N., Nowosad, C. R., Lun, D. S. & Parker, D. & 6 others, Pironti, A., Zhao, X., Drlica, K., Yanai, I., Torres, V. J. & Shopsin, B., 30 Apr 2024, In: eLife. 12, 32 p., RP89098.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Haag, A., Liljeroos, L., Donato, P., Pozzi, C., Brignoli, T., Bottomley, M. J., Bagnoli, F. & Delany, I., 1 Feb 2023, In: Microbiology Spectrum. 11, 1, 19 p., e02574-22.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Podkowik, M., Perault, A. I., Putzel, G., Pountain, A., Kim, J., DuMont, A., Zwack, E., Ulrich, R. J., Karagounis, T. K., Zhou, C., Haag, A. F., Shenderovich, J., Wasserman, G. A., Kwon, J., Chen, J., Richardson, A. R., Weiser, J. N., Nowosad, C. R., Lun, D. S. & Zhao, X. & 7 others, Parker, D., Pironti, A., Zhao, X., Drlica, K., Yanai, I., Torres, V. J. & Shopsin, B., 8 Jun 2023, bioRxiv, 64 p.

  Research output: Working paper › Preprint

• Bagnoli, F., Haag, A. & Liljeroos, L., 1 Feb 2023, Google Patents.

  Research output: Other contribution

• Open access
  Thabet, M. A., Penades, J. R. & Haag, A., 18 Oct 2023, In: Nature Communications. 14, 16 p., 6599.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Borghi, S., Antunes, A., Haag, A. F., Spinsanti, M., Brignoli, T., Ndoni, E., Scarlato, V. & Delany, I., 18 Apr 2022, In: Microorganisms. 10, 4, 16 p., 834.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Ibarra-Chávez, R., Brady, A., Chen, J., Penadés, J. R. & Haag, A. F., 28 Mar 2022, In: PLoS Genetics. 18, 3, 18 p., e1010146.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access
  Haag, A. F., Podkowik, M., Ibarra-Chávez, R., del Sol, F. G., Ram, G., Chen, J., Marina, A., Novick, R. P. & Penadés, J. R., 27 May 2022. 1 p.

  Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster

• Pickering, A. C., Haag, A. F., Penades, J. R. & Fitzgerald, J. R., 1 Dec 2022, Pathogenesis of bacterial infections in animals. Prescott, J. F., Rycroft, A. N., Boyce, J. D., MacInnes, J. I., Van Immerseel, F. & Vázquez-Boland, J. A. (eds.). 5th ed. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, p. 543-564 22 p.

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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