Professor Jay Hinton elected into the American Academy of Microbiology

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Picture: Jay Hinton

University of Liverpool Professor Jay Hinton has been elected as one of the 65 new Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2022 and is the only scientist from the UK to be elected this year.

The American Academy of Microbiology includes the world’s 2600 leading microbiologists from across the globe, and recognises scientists for outstanding contributions to microbiology and provides microbiological expertise in the service of science and the public.

The new fellows have demonstrated outstanding achievements in their area of expertise, strong spirits of service to advance microbial sciences and a sustained commitment to teaching and mentoring to bring forward new leaders in the field of microbiology.

Professor Hinton, from the University’s Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, said: "I was excited to learn that I had been elected to the eminent American Academy of Microbiology. It means a lot to be recognised by colleagues and peers from around the world."

“This would never have happened without the remarkable team of innovative scientists who've worked alongside me, or the others who collaborated with us over the past two decades.”

“I feel particularly honoured because the selection of members of the Academy is based on a variety of criteria. As well as highlighting my group’s scientific accomplishments, my election to the Academy also reflects my work on grant committees, as a journal reviewer and as a mentor to the next generation of microbiologists.”

Jay Hinton is Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and his lab is focused on the lethal epidemic of bloodstream infections caused by Salmonella in sub-Saharan Africa. His team is using a combination of molecular microbiology, genomics and functional transcriptomics to gain new insights, in collaboration with University of Liverpool colleagues based in Malawi. Recent discoveries include the determination of the role of a single noncoding nucleotide in the over-expression of a key virulence factor in African Salmonella (Hammarlöf et al, PNAS) and an understanding of the stepwise evolution of African Salmonella (Pulford et al, Nature Microbiology).

Jay received further recognition in 2018 when he was elected to membership of the European Academy of Microbiology.

To read the American Academy of Microbiology’s full press release, find it here.