About Dr Clair Preece
I'm a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and teach students on MBChB Medicine. I studied BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science prior to undergoing a PhD in microbiology with Northumbria University at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. I then completed a post-doc at Northumbria University and taught on the BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science degree I completed myself.
I have a passion for both teaching and science and can talk about bacteria for hours, to anyone who'll listen.
My research interests include non-tuberculous mycobacteria and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing. I'm a qualified science teacher with a PGCE in secondary science.
Teaching and supervision
I'm a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and teach units associated with clinical microbiology, antimicrobials, and antimicrobial resistance throughout Phase 1 (years 1 and 2) of the undergraduate Medicine MBChB. I facilitate problem-based learning, I'm a personal tutor, health and safety lead, practicals lead, year 3 academic lead, and also co-lead on scaffolding and revision resources for Phase 1 students.
Interests
- Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing
- Non-tuberculous mycobacteria
- Culture medium development
- Cystic fibrosis microbiology.
Research
My PhD consisted of the development of a novel culture medium for non-tuberculous mycobacteria in patients with cystic fibrosis.
Following this, I carried out postdoctoral research at Northumbria University in rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. Our team was awarded the 2022 Analytical Division Horizon Prize: Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science with the Royal Society of Chemistry.
My current research involves ways to rapidly detect NTM in the environment and looking at ways to further improve NTM detection and treatment options.
I am a member of the NTM UK Network, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM), Microbiology Society and American Society for Microbiology (ASM).
I am also a member of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the culture medium developed during my PhD is recommended in the current guidelines for diagnosing and managing cystic fibrosis.
Further information
After completing the BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science at Northumbria University, I was awarded the Professor Arthur L James/bioMerieux Prize and the Institute of Biomedical Science Presidents Prize, before embarking on a three-year PhD at the same institution in collaboration with the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
This culminated in a thesis entitled "A study of the diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology of Mycobacterium abscessus in patients with cystic fibrosis". The work I accomplished at the Freeman contributed to an innovation and research award won by the Freeman Hospital Microbiology department in the NHS Celebrating Excellence Awards. I was also named on a patent for the culture medium developed during my PhD, now globally marketed by bioMerieux as NTM Elite.
I completed my PGCE in secondary science at the University of Sunderland and obtained my QTS teaching science at KS3-5.
View my Orcid profile(opens in new tab).