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Dr Simon Park

Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology
BSc (Hons), PhD
+44 (0)1483 689024
03 AX 01
9am - 5.30pm. Meeting By Appointment Only

Biography

  • 1985 2.1 Honours Degree in Microbiology, University of Leeds
  • 1985-1988 Demonstratorship in Microbiology, University of Nottingham
  • 1988-1990 Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Nottingham
  • 1990 PhD in Molecular Microbiology University of Nottingham
  • 1990-1998 Section Head/Senior Scientific Officer, Institute of Food Research
  • 1995-1998 Honorary Lecturer, Nottingham University
  • 1996-2006 Member of the editorial board of the Journal for Applied Microbiology and Letters in
  • Applied Microbiology
  • 1996-2006 Editor for Journal of Applied Microbiology and Letters in Applied Microbiology
  • 1999 Awarded W. H. Pierce Memorial Prize by the Society for Applied Microbiology

Research Interests

My research is directed towards applying the techniques of molecular genetics and functional genomics to problems of specific relevance to food safety. In particular, it seeks to address those adaptive responses in foodborne bacterial pathogens that influence pathogenicity and survival in the food chain. In recent years much of my research has focused on Campylobacter jejuni, the leading cause of foodborne illness in the UK, and how this pathogen responds to nitric oxide

Research Collaborations

Professor Robert Poole, University of Sheffield

Teaching

BMS1013 FOOD SCIENCE (Module Co-ordinator)

  • Lipids
  • Carbohydrates
  • Novel Foods

BMS1011 PRACTICAL BACTERIOLOGY (Module Co-ordinator)

  • Enumeration techniques 
  • Diagnostic techniques for clinical and environmental samples 
  • Selected genera of important bacteria

BMS2029 CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY

  • Phylogeny 
  • Selected bacterial pathogens (Enterobacteriaceae, Vibrios, Helicobacter, Campylobacter)
  • Bacterial interactions with plants
  • Bacterial interactions with insects

BMS2015 FOOD SCIENCE (Module Co-ordinator)

  • Browning Reactions (Maillard, Caramelization, Ascorbic Acid Browning)
  • Additives 
  • Spoilage and Preservation

BMS3029 PATHOGENESIS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

  • Toxins
  • Intracellular survival
  • Iron Acquisition 
  • Oxidative Stress 

BMS3028 BACTERIAL AND PROTOZOAL INFECTIONS

  • Legionella
  • Campylobacter
  • Helicobacter 
  • Salmonella

BMS3025 FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

  • Foodborne Illness

BMS3021 FOOD SAFETY

  • Novel Foods
  • Genetically Modified Organisms and Foods 

MMIM001 MSc BACTERIAL AND FUNGAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES (Module Co-ordinator)

  • Listeria monocytogenes
  • Yersinia species 
  • Campylobacter species 

MMIM005 MSc PATHOLOGY AND PATHOGENESIS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 

  • Oxidative and nitrosative stress

MMIM006 GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

  • Genetic variation
  • Regulation of Gene expression 
  • Plasmids
  • Phages
  • Transposons
  • Phase variation 
  • Quorum sensing 

MMIM011 MSc FOOD, WATER AND PUBLIC HEALTH

  • Mechanisms of pathogenesis of foodborne pathogens

Departmental Duties

Student Progress and Assessment Officer for the MSc. in Medical Microbiology

Affiliations

Member of the Society of General Microbiology 

Member of ASCI

My publications

Publications

PAPERS

Jackson, R.J., Elvers, K.T., Wainwright, L.M., Gidley, M.D., Lightfoot, J., Park, S.F.c., and Poole R.K. (2007) Oxygen reactivity of both respiratory oxidases in Campylobacter jejuni: the “cydAB” genes encode a cyanide-resistant, low-affinity oxidase that is not of the cytochrome bd-type. Journal of Bacteriology 189:1604-1615.

Pittman, M.S., Elvers, K.T., Lee, L., Jones, M.A., Poole, R.K., Park, S.F.c., and . Kelly, D.J. (2007) Growth of Campylobacter jejuni on nitrate and nitrite: Electron transport to NapA and NrfA via NrfH and distinct roles for NrfA and the globin Cgb in protection against nitrosative stress. Molecular Microbiology 63: 575-590.

Wainwright, L.M., Elvers, K.T., Park, S.F.c. and Poole, R.K. (2005) A truncated haemoglobin implicated in oxygen metabolism by the microaerophilic food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Microbiology 151: 4079-4091.

Wainwright, L.M., Wang, Y., Park, S.F., Yeh, S.R., and Poole, R.K. (2006) Purification and spectroscopic characterization of Ctb, a group III truncated hemoglobin implicated in oxygen metabolism in the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Biochemistry 45:6003-6011.

Elvers, K.T., Turner, S., Penn C.W., and Park, S.F.a (2005) NsrR, a member of the Crp-Fnr superfamily from Campylobacter jejuni, regulates a nitrosative stress-responsive regulon that includes both a single domain and truncated haemoglobin. Molecular Microbiology 57:735-750.

Elvers, K.T., Wu, G., Gilberthorpe, N.J, Poole, R.K., and Park, S.F.a (2004) Role of an inducible single-domain hemoglobin in mediating resistance to nitric oxide and nitrosative stress in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Journal of Bacteriology 186:5332-5341.

TEXT BOOK 

Dale, J.W. and Park S.F (2003) Molecular genetics of bacteria 4th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester