Dr Lucy Urwin

BSc, PhD

School of Medicine and Population Health

Postdoctoral Research Associate

l.urwin@sheffield.ac.uk

LU108, The Medical School

Full contact details

Dr Lucy Urwin
School of Medicine and Population Health
LU108
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX

Profile

I am an early career post-doctoral researcher, currently working within the Clinical Infection Research Group (CIRG) as part of the Darton lab. The Darton lab is interested in characterising adaptive immune responses to Staphylococcus aureus infections, with the aim of identifying correlates of protection that can inform vaccine development. As part of this I’ve been helping to set up a human challenge study and developing tools for studying antigen-specific IgG responses to S. aureus.

Prior to joining the Darton lab, I worked in the Corrigan lab, studying the (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response and the role this conserved bacterial stress response plays in S. aureus colonisation and infection. My PhD project was also rooted in infection biology and involved the development of in vitro tissue culture models of the corneal epithelium that could be used to simulate S. aureus/P. aeruginosa corneal infections (bacterial keratitis) and test novel antimicrobials.

Therefore, throughout my research career I have developed particular expertise in staphylococcal biology and the use of tissue culture models for studying S. aureus pathogenesis.

Qualifications

BSc in Molecular Biology

PhD in Infection Biology: The Development of in vitro Corneal Infection Models for Antimicrobial Drug Testing

Publications

Journal articles

Choudhury NR, Urwin L, Salamaga B, Prince LR, Renshaw SA & Corrigan RM (2025) Determining the importance of the stringent response for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus virulence in vivo. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. View this article in WRRO
Urwin L, Savva O & Corrigan RM (2024) Microbial Primer: what is the stringent response and how does it allow bacteria to survive stress?. Microbiology, 170(7). View this article in WRRO
Jadi PK, Dave A, Issa R, Tabbasum K, Okurowska K, Samarth A, Urwin L, Green LR, Partridge LJ, MacNeil S , Garg P et al (2024) Tetraspanin CD9-derived peptides inhibit Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal infection and aid in wound healing of corneal epithelial cells. The Ocular Surface, 32, 211-218.
Green LR, Issa R, Albaldi F, Urwin L, Thompson R, Khalid H, Turner CE, Ciani B, Partridge LJ & Monk PN (2023) CD9 co-operation with syndecan-1 is required for a major staphylococcal adhesion pathway. mBio, 14(4). View this article in WRRO
Carrilero L, Urwin L, Ward E, Choudhury NR, Monk IR, Turner CE, Stinear TP & Corrigan RM (2023) Stringent response-mediated control of GTP homeostasis is required for long-term viability of staphylococcus aureus. Microbiology Spectrum, 11(2). View this article in WRRO
Nolan AC, Zeden MS, Kviatkovski I, Campbell C, Urwin L, Corrigan RM, Gründling A & O’Gara JP (2023) Purine nucleosides interfere with c-di-AMP levels and act as adjuvants to re-sensitize MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics. mBio, 14(1). View this article in WRRO
Partridge LJ, Urwin L, Nicklin MJH, James DC, Green LR & Monk PN (2021) ACE2-independent interaction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with human epithelial cells is inhibited by unfractionated heparin. Cells, 10(6). View this article in WRRO
Urwin L, Okurowska K, Crowther G, Roy S, Garg P, Karunakaran E, MacNeil S, Partridge LJ, Green LR & Monk PN (2020) Corneal infection models : tools to investigate the role of biofilms in bacterial keratitis. Cells, 9(11). View this article in WRRO

Preprints

Choudhury NR, Urwin L, Salamaga B, Prince LR, Renshaw SA & Corrigan RM (2023) Determining the importance of the stringent response for methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureusvirulence using a zebrafish model of infection, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Green LR, Issa R, Albaldi F, Urwin L, Khalid H, Turner CE, Ciani B, Partridge LJ & Monk PN (2023) CD9 co-operation with syndecan-1 is required for a major staphylococcal adhesion pathway, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Nolan AC, Zeden MS, Campbell C, Kviatkovski I, Urwin L, Corrigan RM, Gründling A & O’Gara JP (2022) Purine nucleosides interfere with c-di-AMP levels and act as adjuvants to re-sensitise MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Partridge LJ, Urwin L, Nicklin MJH, James DC, Green LR & Monk PN (2020) ACE2-independent interaction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human epithelial cells can be inhibited by unfractionated heparin, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.