Colin Hill
Name: Prof. Colin Hill
Position: Professor of Microbial Food Safety
T: 
353 (0)21 4901373
F: 353 (0)21 4903101
E: c.hill@ucc.ie
Biography
Academic Career
1978-1982: B.Sc (hons) in Biochemistry, University College Cork (UCC).
1982-1984: M.Sc in Biotechnology, UCC.
1984-1988: Ph.D in Microbiology, UCC & Groningen University, Netherlands.
Additional Positions and Awards
2001: Member, Scientific Committee of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
2005: D.Sc on published work, awarded by the National University of Ireland.
2009: Elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Teaching areas
- Food safety (MB4011, MB4611)
- Food biotechnology (MB4013)
- Functional foods, including probiotics (MB6003)
Research interests and expertise
- Molecular Microbiology, particularly in issues involving Food Safety
- Gastrointestinal phase of Listeria monocytogenes
- Bacteriocins (applied and fundamental aspects)
- Pharmabiotics (bioactives in gut health)
- Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, Enterobacter sakazakii
Research
Research Overview
Our group participates in both the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), a multidisciplinary research centre focusing on the role of gut microbiota in health and disease and the National Functional Food Research Centre, a multi-Institutional Centre engaged in identifying bioactive components for use in functional foods. Our main interests are in infectious disease, particularly in defining the mechanisms of virulence of foodborne pathogens and in developing strategies to prevent and limit the consequences of microbial infections in the gastrointestinal tract. We are also interested in the role of bacteriocins as agents to limit the growth of bacteria in food or in the human gut.
Selected Recent Publications
Martin NI, Sprules T, Carpenter MR, Cotter PD, Hill C, Ross RP, Vederas JC. 2004. Structural characterization of lacticin 3147, a two-peptide lantibiotic with synergistic activity. Biochemistry. 43:3049-3056.
Cotter, P., P.M. O’Connor, L.A. Draper, E.M. Lawton, L.H. Deegan, C. Hill, and R.P. Ross. 2005. Post-translational conversion of L-Serines to D-Alanines is vital for optimal production and activity of the lantibiotic Lacticin 3147. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102:18584-18589.
Wiedmann, I., T. Böttiger, R.R. Bonelli, A. Wiese, S.O. Hagge, T. Gutsmann, U. Seydel, L. Deegan, C. Hill, P. Ross, H-G Sahl. 2006. The mode of action of the lantibiotic lacticin 3147 - a complex mechanism involving specific interaction of two peptides and the cell wall precursor lipid II. Mol. Microbiol. 61:285-296.
Cotter P.D., L.H. Deegan , E.M. Lawton , L.A. Draper , P.M. O'Connor , C. Hill, R.P.Ross. 2006. Complete Alanine scanning of the two-component lantibiotic lacticin 3147; a blueprint for rational drug design. Mol. Microbiol. 62:735-747.
Corr, S.C., Y. Li, C.U. Riedel, P.W. O’Toole, C. Hill, C.G.M. Gahan. 2007. From the cover: Bacteriocin production as a mechanism for the anti-infective activity of Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104:7617-7621.
Jones, B.V, M. Begley, C. Hill, C.G.M Gahan and J.R. Marchesi. 2008. Functional and comparative metagenomic analysis of bile salt hydrolase activity in the human gut microbiome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105:13580-13585.
Field, D., P.M. O’Connor, P.D. Cotter, C. Hill, and R.P. Ross. 2008. The generation of Nisin derivatives with enhanced activity against specific gram positive pathogens. Mol. Microbiol. 69:218-230.
Klosterman, K. F. Crispie, J. Flynn, R.P. Ross C. Hill and W. Meaney. 2008. Intramammary infusion of a live culture of Lactococcus lactis for treatment of bovine mastitis: comparison to antibiotic treatment in field trials. J. Dairy Res. 75:365-373.
Crispie, F., M. Alonso-Gomez, C. O’Loughlin, K. Klostermann, J. Flynn, S. Arkins, W. Meaney, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2008. Intramammary infusion of a live culture for treatment of bovine mastitis: effect of live lactococci on the mammary immune response. J. Dairy Res. 75:374-384.
Monk, I.R., P.G. Casey, M. Cronin, C.G.M. Gahan and C. Hill. 2008. Development of multiple strain competitive index assays for Listeria monocytogenes using pIMC; a new site-specific integrative vector. BMC Microbiology 8:96.
Cotter, P.D., L.A Draper, E.M. Lawton, K.M. Daly, D.S. Groeger, P.G. Casey, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2008. Listeriolysin S, a novel peptide haemolysin associated with a subset of Lineage I Listeria monocytogenes. PLoS Pathogens 4:e1000144.
Draper, L., K.Grainger, L. H. Deegan, P. D. Cotter, C. Hill and R. P. Ross. 2009. Cross immunity and immune mimicry as mechanisms of resistance to the lantibiotic lacticin 3147. Mol. Microbiol. 71:1043-1054.
Riedel, C., I.R. Monk, P. Casey, M.S. Waidmann, C.G.M. Gahan and C. Hill. 2009. AgrD-dependent quorum sensing affects biofilm formation, invasion, virulence and global gene expression profiles in Listeria monocytogenes . Mol. Microbiol. 71:1177-1189.
Hayes, M., E. Barrett, R.P. Ross, G.F. Fitzgerald, C. Hill and C. Stanton. 2009. Evaluation of an Antimicrobial Ingredient Prepared from a Lactobacillus acidophilus Casein Fermentate against Enterobacter sakazakii. J. Food Protection 72:340-346.
Gardiner, G.E., S. O’Flaherty, P.G. Casey, A. Weber, T. L. McDonald, M. Cronin, C. Hill, R.P. Ross, C.G.M. Gahan and F. Shanahan. 2009. Evaluation of colostrum-derived human mammary-associate serum amyloid A3 (M-SAA3) protein and peptide derivatives for the prevention of enteric infection: in vitro and in murine models of intestinal disease. FEMS Immun. Med. Microbiol. 55:404-413.
Sleator, R.D., N. Banville and C. Hill. 2009. Carnitine enhances the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in infant formula at 7ºC. J. Food Prot. 72:1293-1295.
Beecher, C., M. Daly, D.P. Berry, K. Klostermann, J. Flynn, W. Meaney, C. Hill, T.V. McCarthy, R.P. Ross and L. Giblin. 2009. Administration of a live culture of Lactococcus lactis DPC 3147 into the bovine mammary gland stimulates the local host immune response, particularly IL-1β and IL-8 gene expression. J. Dairy Res. 76:340-348.
Shanahan, F., C. Stanton, P. Ross and C. Hill. 2009. Pharmabiotics, Bioactives from mining host-microbe-dietary interactions. Functional Food reviews. In press.
Sleator, R.D., D. Watson, C. Hill and C.G.M. Gahan. 2009. The interaction between Listeria monocytogenes and the host GI tract. Microbiology. 155:2463-2475.
Begley, M., C. Kerr and C. Hill. 2009. Exposure to bile influences biofilm formation by Listeria monocytogenes. Gut Pathogens. 1:11.
Begley, M. P.D. Cotter, C.Hill and R.P. Ross. 2009. Identification of a novel two peptide lantibiotic, lichenicidin, following rational genome mining for LanM proteins. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75:5451-5460.
Piper, C., L. Draper, P. Cotter, R.P. Ross and C. Hill. 2009. A comparison of the activities of lacticin 3147 and nisin against MRSA, VISA and VRE. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 63:546-551.
Sleator, R.D. and C. Hill. 2009. Rational design of improved pharmabiotics. J. Biomed. Biotech. Article ID 275287.
Fallico, V., O. McAuliffe, G.F. Fitzgerald, C. Hill and R.P. Ross. 2009. The presence of pMRC01 promotes greater cell permeability and autolysis in lactococcal starter cultures. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 133:217-224.
Research funding and grants
In receipt of funding from Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board, Enterprise Ireland and Department of Agriculture.
Research Groups and collaborators
Professor Paul Ross, Dr Catherine Stanton, Teagasc, Moorepark.
Dr Paul Cotter, Teagasc, Moorepark
Dr Cormac Gahan, UCC
Professor John Vederas, Edmonton, Canada
Research Projects in the group
We work on a variety of organisms, including Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, Cronobacter [Enterobacter] sakazakii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus in both food and animal models of disease.
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