Role
I am a member of the Antimicrobial Resistance, Omics & Microbiota group at NTU. I am the course leader for the MSc Molecular Microbiology course. I am also module leader for BIOL40472: Medical Microbiology, and I teach in modules BIOL33211: Toxicology, BIOL45231: Molecular Microbiology, BIOL40251: Techniques in Macromolecular Analysis, BIOL22371: Applied Microbiology, BIOL22271: Host-Pathogen Interactions, BIOL10321: Introduction to Microbiology, BIOL22801: Biomolecular Structure and Function, and BIOL14406: Living Systems.
Career overview
I attained my PhD from the University of Helsinki in 2009. I then moved to Germany for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, where I spent three years. Following this, I did a second postdoc at the University of Oslo, Norway, before becoming a group leader there. I joined NTU in June 2019.
Research areas
I study bacterial pathogenesis, focusing on autotransporters of Gram-negative bacteria. These proteins are self-contained secretion systems and surface molecules that mediate a number of virulence functions. The proteins are found widely in Gram-negative bacteria, and I have studied a variety of autotransporters from organisms such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Yersinia enterocolitica. My work characterises both the functions of autotransporters as well as their secretion mechanism. In addition, as surface-exposed molecules and virulence factors, autotransporters are potential vaccine and drug targets.
Supervised PhD students:
As Director of Studies:
Thomas Trunk (2020, University of Oslo)
As Co-supervisor:
Krishnapriya Gopalakrishnan (2026, NTU)
Sagar Batra (2025, NTU)
External activity
I am a member of the editorial board for Biology (MDPI), PeerJ, and Scientific Reports, and I am a review editor for Frontiers in Microbiology. I also regularly review for journals such as FEMS Microbiology Letters, Toxins (MDPI), and Microbiology. For recent peer review activity, visit my Publons page.
I am a member of the Society for Applied Microbiology and the Microbiology Society.
Recent Conference Attendance:
Biofilms and Microbiomes, Cardiff, 20/5/2026
British Society for Matrix Biology Spring Meeting, Nottingham, 14-15/4/2025
Internation Biennial Pseudomonas Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1-5/9/2024
Microbiology Forum, Nottingham, UK, 21/6/2023
Microbiology Society Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK, 17-20/4/2023
Microbial Surface Colonization MISC symposium, Oslo, Norway, 6-8/2/2023
Microbiology Society Protein Secretion at the Host-Pathogen Interface meeting, Belfast, UK, 3-4/11/2022
Gordon Research Conference on Bacterial Cell Surfaces, Vermont, USA, 26-30/6/2022
ViBrANT 2021 Conference (online), 15-16/7/2021
World Microbe Forum (joint AMS and FEMS conference, online), 20-24/6/2021
Microbiology Society annual conference 2021 (online), 26-30/4/2021
Recent Outreach Activities:
Supermicrobes, Loughborough College (2025), Trent College (2026)
Fluorescent Bacteria at The Festival of Science and Curiosity, Nottingham (2024, 2025, 2026)
Sponsors and collaborators
I have a wide collaboration network with colleagues worldwide. Some of my recent collaboration partners are mentioned below:
- Prof. Katharina Shaufler (Helmholz Institute for One Health, Germany): pathogenic E. coli
- Prof Katsutoshi Hori (University of Nagoya, Japan): atomic force measurements on bacterial adhesins.
- Prof J. Preben Morth (Technical University of Denmark): structure and biophysics of bacterial adhesins.
- Prof Dirk Linke (University of Oslo, Norway): adhesins from bacterial fish pathogens.
- Dr Monika S. Schütz (University Clinics Tübingen, Germany): adhesins from human enteropathogens.
Research Funding:
2016 – 2019 Research Council of Norway Young Investigator Grant (“Type Vd secretion: a virulence factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa?”, 7 000 000 NOK/ 3 years; funding for own position, a PhD student and consumables).
2014 - 2017 VISTA Postdoctoral Fellowship (“Formation mechanism of biological nanoparticles”, personal salary and 150 000 NOK/a research expenses)
2011 - 2013 FEMS Advanced Fellowship (“Bacterial Ig-like domain-containing adhesins”, personal fellowship, €25 000)
Publications
Recent publications:
- Duodu R, Boocock DJ, Hoyles L, Leo JC (2026): The Omp85 family protein, TamA, exhibits characteristics of a suitable drug target against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiology, 172(4):001674. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001674
- Sarma Kandanur SP, Renschler FA, Breuer B, Schuetz MS, Leo JC (2026): Mutations affecting the beta-sheet at the extracellular opening of the intimin beta-barrel domain lead to reduced protein levels and inefficient passenger secretion. Biosci Rep. 46: BSR20253581. https://doi.org/10.1042/bsr20253581
- Swiatek LS, Schaufler K, Leo JC (2025): Chain formation mediated by Escherichia coli immunoglobulin-binding proteins EibD and EibG depends on expression levels and localization of proteins. Sci Rep. 5(1):35244. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-22967-3
- Floras F, Mawere C, Singh M, Wootton V, Hamstead L, McVicker G, Leo JC (2024): The putative virulence plasmid pYR4 of the fish pathogen Yersinia ruckeri is conjugative and stabilised by a HigBA toxin-antitoxin system. Biology, 13(9): 652. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13090652
- Meuskens I, Leo JC, Linke D (2024): Recombinant expression and overproduction of transmembrane betabarrel proteins. Methods Mol Biol., 2778: 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3734-0_2
- Duodu R, Linke D, Leo JC (2024): Fluorescent labeling of outer membrane proteins using the SpyCatcher-SpyTag system. Methods Mol Biol., 2778: 53-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3734-0_4
- Michalik M, Djahanshiri B, Leo JC, Linke D (2022): An update on “Reverse vaccinology”: the pathway from genomes and epitope predictions to tailored, recombinant vaccines. Methods Mol Biol. 2412: 45-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1892-9_4
- Hermansen S, Linke D, Leo JC (2021): Transmembrane beta-barrel proteins of bacteria: from structure to function. Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.apcsb.2021.07.002
- Rooke JL, Icke C, Wells TJ, Rossiter AE, Browning DF, Morris FC, Leo JC, Schütz MS, Autenrieth IB, Cunningham AF, Linke D, Henderson IR (2021): BamA and BamD are essential for the secretion of trimeric autotransporter adhesins. Front Microbiol., 12:243. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.628879
- Weikum J, Kulakova A, Tesei G, Yoshimoto S, Jægerum LV, Schütz M, Hori K, Skepö M, Harris P, Leo JC, Morth JP (2020): The extracellular juncture domains in the intimin passenger adopt a constitutively extended conformation inducing restraints to its sphere of action. Sci Rep., 10(1): 21249. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77706-7
- Khalil HS, Øgaard J, Leo JC (2020): Coaggregation properties of trimeric autotransporter adhesins. Microbiolyopen, 9(10): e1109. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mbo3.1109
- Whelan R, McVicker G, Leo JC (2020): Staying out or going in? The interplay of type 3 and type 5 secretion systems in adhesion and invasion of enterobacterial pathogens. Int J Mol Sci., 21(11): 4102. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/11/4102
- Wrobel A, Saragliadis A, Pérez-Ortega J, Sittman C, Göttig S, Liskiewicz K, Spence MH, Schneider K, Leo JC, Arenas J, Linke D (2020): The inverse autotransporters of Yersinia ruckeri, YrInv and YrIlm, contribute to biofilm formation and virulence. Environ Microbiol., 22(7): 2939-55. https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1462-2920.15051