Postdoctoral Researcher

Ineos Oxford Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance
Department of Biology
University of Oxford
South Parks Road
Bath, OX1 3RE
United Kingdom
Twitter: @CampyVet
e-mail: evangelos.mourkas@biology.ox.ac.uk

Professional profiles (18 publications; h-index: 11):
ORCID | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | LinkedIn

Curriculum
2020-2022: Research Associate (University of Bath, UK)
2016-2020: PhD, The Milner Centre for Evolution (University of Bath, UK)
2015-2016: Research Assistant (ZSC, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden)
2013-2015: MSc, in infection biology (Uppsala University, Sweden)
2007-2012: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)

Research Associate |  September 2022 – present

My research interests focus around ecology, evolution and transmission of various bacterial infectious diseases. In my current postdoc position, I am the leading researcher in a large project funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK, investigating complex disease transmission networks and antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries in Africa (Gambia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Egypt). I am also part of on-going studies with collaborators in S. America (Peru, Chile) and SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand). I have supervised visiting researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students since 2017. 

Publications (* indicates joint authorship)
Post V*, Pascoe B*, Mourkas E, Calland JK, Hitchings MD, Erichsen C, Fischer J, Morgenstern M, Richards RG, Sheppard SK**, Moriarty TF** (2022) Multiple hypervirulent methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus lineages contribute towards poor patient outcomes in orthopaedic device-related infections. medRxiv doi: 10.1101/2022.10.21.22280349 [Preprint]; Sequence data [SRA]; Pathogen.watch [collection]; Supplementary material [figshare], StaphDB [BIGSdb]; Genealogy [microreact]; Twitter [thread]

Kittiwan N, Calland JK, Mourkas E, Hitchings MD, Murray S, Tadee Ph, Tadee Pa, Duangsonk K, Méric G, Sheppard SK, Patchanee P*, Pascoe B* (2021) Non-serotype 2 isolates from healthy pigs are a potential zoonotic reservoir of Streptococcus suis genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance. Microbial Genomics (In press); bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2021.06.17.447897 [Preprint]; Sequence data [NCBI]; Supplementary material [figshare]; Genealogy [microreact]; Twitter [thread]

Tucker K, Mageiros L, Carstens A, Bröcker L, Archer E, Smith K, Mourkas E, Pascoe B, Nel D, Méric G, Sheppard SK, Kasprzyk-Hordern B, Botes M, Feil EJ, and Wolfaardt G (2022) Spatiotemporal investigation of antibiotic resistance in the urban water cycle influenced by environmental and anthropogenic activity. Microbiology Spectrum e0247322; doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02473-22 [Publisher]

Mouftah SF*, Pascoe B*, Calland JK, Mourkas E, Tonkin N, Lefevré C, Deuker D, Smith S, Wickenden H, Hitchings MD, Sheppard SK, Elhadidy M (2022) Local accessory gene sharing drives lineage-specific acquisition of antimicrobial resistance in Egyptian Campylobacter spp. Microbial Genomics 8(6):834 doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000834 [Publisher]; bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2021.09.24.461243 [Preprint]; Sequence data [SRA]; Supplementary material [figshare]; Twitter [thread]

Mourkas E, Yahara K, Bayliss SC, Calland JK, Johansson H, Mageiros L, Muñoz-Ramirez ZY, Futcher G, Méric G, Hitchings MD, Sandoval-Motta S, Torres J, Jolley KA, Maidem MCJ, Ellström P, Waldenström J, Pascoe B* & Sheppard SK* (2022) Host ecology regulates interspecies recombination in bacteria of the genus Campylobacter. eLife 11:e73552 [Publisher] bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2021.08.24.457495 [Preprint] Supplementary material [figshare] Twitter [thread]

Calland JK, Pascoe B, Bayliss SC, Mourkas E, Thorpe HA, Berthenet E, Hitchings MD, Feil EJ, Corander J, Blaser MJ, Falush D* & Sheppard SK* (2021) Quantifying bacterial evolution in the wild: a birthday problem for Campylobacter lineages. PLoS Genetics 17(9): e1009829 [Publisher] bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/2020.12.02.407999 [Preprint]; Sequence data [NCBI]; Supplementary material [figShare] Twitter [thread]

Peters S*, Pascoe B*, Wu Z, Bayliss SC, Zeng X, Edogawa S, Edwinson A, Veerabadhran-Gurunathan S, Jawahir S, Calland JK, Mourkas E, Patel R, Wiens T, Decur M, Boxrud D, Smith K, Parker CT, Farrugia G, Zhang Q, Sheppard SK**, Grover M** (In press) Campylobacter jejuni genotypes associated with post infection irritable bowel syndrome in humans. Communications Biology [Publisher]; Sequence data [SRA]; Supplementary material [figshare]; Genealogy [microreact]

Mageiros L, Méric G, Bayliss SC, Pensar J, Pascoe B, Mourkas E, Calland JK, Yahara K, Murray S, Wilkinson TS, Williams LK, Hitchings MD, Kemmett K, Feil EJ, Jolley KA, Williams NJ, Corander J, Sheppard SK. (2020) Genome evolution and emergence of pathogenicity in Avian Escherichia coli. Nature Communications 12 (1): 765; doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-20988-w [Publisher]; Sequence data [NCBI]; Supplementary material [figShare]

Mourkas, E. (2020) Genomics and evolution of Campylobacter: host adaptation and the emergence of globally disseminated lineages. Doctoral Thesis, University of Bath [Publisher].

Jehanne Q, Pascoe B, Bénéjat L, Ducournau A, Buissonnière A, Mourkas E, Mégraud F, Bessède E, Sheppard SK & Lehours P. (2020) Determination of Campylobacter coli host-segregating SNPs and their use for source attribution of clinical isolates. AEM doi: 10.1128/AEM.01787-20 [Publisher]

Muñoz-Ramirez ZY, Pascoe B, Mendez-Tenorio A, Mourkas E, Sandoval-Motta S, Perez-Perez G, Morgan DR, Dominguez RL, Ortiz-Princz D, Cavazza ME, Rocha G, Queiroz DMM, Catalano M, de la Palma GZ,  Goldman CG, Venegas A, Alarcon T, Oleastro M, Vale FF, Goodman KJ, Torres RC, Berthenet B, Hitchings MD, Blaser MJ, Sheppard SK, Thorell K & Torres J. (2020) A five-hundred year tale of co-evolution, adaptation and virulence: Helicobacter pylori in the Americas. ISME doi: 10.1038/s41396-020-00758-0 [Publisher].

Pascoe B, Schiaffino F, Murray S, Méric G, Bayliss SC, Hitchings MD, Mourkas E, Calland JK, Burga R, Peñataro-Yori P, Jolley KA, Cooper KK, Parker CT, Paredes-Olortegui M, Kosek M & Sheppard SK. (2020) Genomic epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni associated with asymptomatic pediatric infection in the Peruvian Amazon. PLOS NTD 14(8):e0008533; doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008533 [Publisher]. medRxiv doi: 10.1101/2020.04.26.20075689 [Publisher], sequence data [SRA], Supplementary material [figShare], genealogies [1][2].

Mourkas E, Taylor AJ, Méric G, Bayliss SC, Pascoe B, Mageiros L, Calland JK, Hitchings MD, Ridley A, Vidal A, Forbes KJ, Strachan NJC, Parker CT, Parkhill J, Jolley KA, Cody AJ, Maiden MCJ, Kelly DJ*, Sheppard SK* (2020) Agricultural intensification and the evolution of host specialism in the enteric pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. PNAS 117 (20) 11018-11028; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1917168117 [Publisher]; Sequence data [SRA]; Supplementary material [figShare]

Banaszkiewicz S, Calland JK, Mourkas E, Sheppard SK, Pascoe B & Bania J. (2019) Genetic diversity of composite enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus epidermidis pathogenicity islands. Genome Biology and Evolution 11 (12) 3498–3509; doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz259 [Publisher] Supplementary material [Figshare] Genomes [StaphDb] Genealogy [Microreact]

Mourkas E*, Florez-Cuadrado D*, Pascoe B, Calland JK, Bayliss SC, Mageiros L, Méric G, Hitchings MD, Quesada A, Porrero C, Ugarte-Ruiz M, Gutierrez-Fernandez J, Dominguez L, Sheppard SK. (2019) Gene pool transmission of multidrug resistance among Campylobacter from livestock, sewage and human disease. Environmental Microbiology 21 (12) 4597-4613; doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14760 [Publisher] Sequence data [SRA]

Atterby C*, Mourkas E*, Méric G, Pascoe B, Waldenstrom J, Sheppard SK, Olsen B, Jarhult JD, Ellstrom P. (2018) The potential of isolation source to predict colonization in avian hosts: a case study in Campylobacter jejuni strains from three bird species. Frontiers in Microbiology 9:51. [Publisher]

Méric G, Mageiros L, Pascoe B, Mourkas E, Lamble S, Bowden R, Jolley KA, Raymond B, Sheppard SK. (2018) Lineage-specific plasmid acquisition and the evolution of specialized pathogens in Bacillus thuringiensis and the Bacillus cereus group. Molecular Ecology 27 (7), 1524-1540 [Publisher].

Méric G, McNally A, Pessia A, Mourkas E, Pascoe B, Mageiros L, Vehkala M, Corander J, Sheppard SK. (2018) Convergent amino acid signatures in paraphyletic Campylobacter jejuni sub-populations suggest human niche tropism. Genome Biology and Evolution 10 (3), 763-774 [Publisher].

Rossi G, Silva HO, Aguilar EG, Pascoe B, Méric G, Mourkas E, Hitchings MD, Mathias LA, Ruiz VLA, Fukumasu H, Sheppard SK, Vical AMC. (2018) Comparative genomic survey of Bacillus cereus sensu stricto isolates from the dairy production chain in Brazil. FEMS Microbiology Letters 365 (3), fnx283 [Publisher].

Eriksson P, Mourkas E, González-Acuna D, Björn Olsen, Ellström P. (2017) Evaluation and optimization of microbial DNA extraction from fecal samples of wild Antarctic bird species. Infection Ecology & Epidemiology 7 (1), 1386536 [Publisher].