Professor Colin Hill

Contact Details

Microbiology Department,

University College Cork

Tel: +353-21-4901373

Fax: +353-21-4903101

Email: c.hill@ucc.ie

Academic Background

Colin Hill has a Ph.D in molecular microbiology and is Professor of Microbial Food Safety in the Microbiology Department of University College Cork, Ireland. He is also a Principal Investigator in both the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), a multidisciplinary research centre focusing on the role of gut microbiota in health and disease, as well as with the FHI research centre.

Research Interests

His main interests are in infectious disease, particularly in defining the mechanisms of virulence of foodborne pathogens and in developing strategies to prevent and limit the consequences of microbial infections in the gastrointestinal tract. Professor Hill leads the FHI work programme 7, which aims to identify the functional ingredients in milk that will reduce the incidence and severity of infectious disease.

Publications

Colin Hill has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers and holds 11 patents in this area. He has also served on the Scientific Committee of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for many years. In 2005 Prof. Hill was awarded a D.Sc by the National University of Ireland in recognition of his contributions to research. Some of his recent publications include:

Corr, S.C., Y. Li, C.U. Riedel, P.W. O'Toole, C. Hill, C.G.M. Gahan. 2007. From the cover: Bacteriocin production as a mechanism for the anti-infective activity of Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104:7617-7621.

Riedel, C.U. I.R. Monk, P.G. Casey, D. Morrissey, G.C. O'Sullivan, M. Tangney, C. Hill and C.G.M. Gahan. 2007. Improved luciferase tagging system for Listeria monocytogenes allows real-time monitoring in vivo and in vitro. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73:3091-3094.

Hayes, M. C. Stanton, H. Slattery, O. O'Sullivan, C. Hill, G. F. Fitzgerald, and R. P. Ross. 2007. A casein fermentate of Lactobacillus animalis DPC6134 contains a range of novel pro-peptide angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Applied. Environ. Microbiol. 73:4658-4667.

Gardiner, G.E., M.C. Rea, B. O'Riordan, P. O'Connor, S.M. Morgan, P.G. Lawlor, P.B. Lynch, M. Cronin, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2007. Fate of the two-component lantibiotic lacticin 3147 in the gastrointestinal tract. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 7103-7109.

Field, D., P.M. O'Connor, P.D. Cotter, C. Hill, and R.P. Ross. 2008. The generation of Nisin derivatives with enhanced activity against specific gram positive pathogens. Mol. Microbiol. 69:218-230.

Klosterman, K. F. Crispie, J. Flynn, R.P. Ross C. Hill and W. Meaney. 2008. Intramammary infusion of a live culture of Lactococcus lactis for treatment of bovine mastitis: comparison to antibiotic treatment in field trials. J. Dairy Res. 75:365-373.

Crispie, F., M. Alonso-Gomez, C. O'Loughlin, K. Klostermann, J. Flynn, S. Arkins, W. Meaney, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2008. Intramammary infusion of a live culture for treatment of bovine mastitis: effect of live lactococci on the mammary immune response. J. Dairy Res. 75:374-384.

Birkemo, G.A. O. O'Sullivan, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2008. Antimicrobial activity of two peptides Casecidin 15 and 17, found naturally in bovine colostrum. J. Appl. Microbiol. In press.

Begley, M., et al. 2008. Analysis of the isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways in Listeria reveals a role for the alternative MEP pathway in murine infection. Infect. Immunity. 76:5392-5401.

Jones, B.V, M. Begley, C. Hill, C.G.M Gahan and J.R. Marchesi. 2008. Functional and comparative metagenomic analysis of bile salt hydrolase activity in the human gut microbiome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105:13580-13585.

Cronin, M., R.D. Sleator, C. Hill, G.F. Fitzgerald and D. van Sinderen. 2008. Development of a luciferase-based reporter system to monitor Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003 persistence in mice. BMC Microbiology. 8:161.

Sleator, R.D. and C. Hill. 2008. Battle of the bugs (letter). Science 321: 1294-1295.

Cotter, P.D., L.A Draper, E.M. Lawton, K.M. Daly, D.S. Groeger, P.G. Casey, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2008. Listeriolysin S, a novel peptide haemolysin associated with a subset of Lineage I Listeria monocytogenes. PLoS Pathogens 4:e1000144.

Watson, D., R.D. Sleator, C.G.M. Gahan and C. Hill. 2008. Enhancing bile tolerance improves survival and persistence of Bifidobacterium and Lactococcus in the murine gastrointestinal tract. BMC Microbiology. 8:176.

Clayton, E. M. Rea, R.P. Ross, C. Hill, E. Quigley and F. Shanahan. 2009. The vexed relationship between Clostridium difficile and Inflammatory Bowel Disease - an assessment of carriage in an outpatient setting among patients in remission. Am. J. Gastroenterol. In press.