Staff profile

Bio

My research interests focus on novel bacteriophage resistance systems. I use a range of techniques including genetics, biochemistry, structural and molecular biology to investigate antiphage systems and their components. I enjoy all things high octane including skydiving, motorbiking and running size exclusion experiments at higher flow rates than the manufacturer's recommendation.

• Structural Biology
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Molecular Genetics

Journal Article

• Beck, I. N., Picton, D. M. & Blower, T. R. (2022). Crystal structure of the BREX phage defence protein BrxA. Current Research in Structural Biology
• Picton, D. M., Harling-Lee, J. D., Duffner, S. J., Went, S. C., Morgan, R. D., Hinton, J. C. D. & Blower, T. R. (2022). A widespread family of WYL-domain transcriptional regulators co-localises with diverse phage defence systems and islands. Nucleic Acids Research 50(9): 5191-5207.
• Picton, D.M., Luyten, Y.A., Morgan, R.D., Nelson, A., Smith, D.L., Dryden, D.T.F., Hinton, J.C.D. & Blower, T.R. (2021). The phage defence island of a multidrug resistant plasmid uses both BREX and type IV restriction for complementary protection from viruses. Nucleic Acids Research 49(19): 11257-11273.
• Rodwell, E.V., Wenner, N., Pulford, C.V., Cai, Y., Bowers-Barnard, A., Beckett, A., Rigby, J., Picton, D.M., Blower, T.R., Feasey, N.A., Hinton, J.C.D. & Perez-Sepulveda, B.M. (2021). Isolation and characterisation of bacteriophages with activity against invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella causing blood-stream infection in Malawi. Viruses 13(3): 478.
• Cross, J.M., Blower, T.R., Kingdon, A.D.H., Pal, R., Picton, D.M. & Walton, J.W. (2020). Anticancer Ruthenium Complexes with HDAC Isoform Selectivity. Molecules 25(10): 2383.
• Sim, Martin, Koirala, Santosh, Picton, David, Strahl, Henrik, Hoskisson, Paul A., Rao, Christopher V., Gillespie, Colin S. & Aldridge, Phillip D. (2017). Growth rate control of flagellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RP437. Scientific Reports 7: 41189.