Sir James Black Chair of Medicine & Director of Research, University of St Andrews

MD, DSc, FRCP (Edin), FRC Path

Research interests

Stephen Gillespie was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He graduated in Medicine from the Queen's University Belfast in 1980 and trained in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the Royal Victoria Hospital. He was appointed Mercer's Lecturer in Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1985. He was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in 1989 and awarded a personal chair in 1998 at University College London. In August 2011, he was appointed as the Sir James Black Chair of Medicine and Director of Research at University of St Andrews.

Stephen Gillespie has worked in Kenya researching the relationship between malaria and lower respiratory tract infection and the prevalence of parasitic infection in children in Kilifi, Kenya. He has investigated a cholera epidemic and vaccine failures in Guerrero, Mexico. He has been working in collaboration with colleagues at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre since 1988 where he has, variously, studied respiratory and parasite diagnostics and novel antimalarials, anti-helminthics and anti tuberculosis agents. His main research activity is in the area of tuberculosis drug development.

For the last twenty years Stephen Gillespie has been involved in various aspects of  tuberculosis drug development. This has included the evaluation of new candidate antituberculosis agents in vitro. This work has expanded into studies of the molecular mechanisms of resistance and the development of model systems to measure the fitness deficits found in resistant strains. He has been involved in the development of fluoroquinolones for tuberculosis having performed early bacterial activity studies and clinical trials of ciprofloxacin. More recently he has led the group working on the clinical development of moxifloxacin in collaboration with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development as Chief Investigator of the REMox TB study. He is also one of the three Chief Investigators of the PanACEA consortium that is developing Europe and Africa's clinical trials capacity.

Personal web site

Publications

O'Sullivan D., McHugh TD., Gillespie SH. Analysis of rpoB and pncA mutations in the published literature: an insight into oxidative stress in Mycobacterium tuberculosis evolution. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2005; 55: 674-679

Jenkins C, Claxton AP, Shorten RJ, McHugh TD, Gillespie SH. Rifampicin resistance in tuberculosis outbreak, London, England. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2005; 11: 931-934

T.D. McHugh, S.L. Batt, R.J.  Shorten, R.D. Gosling, L. Uiso & S.H. Gillespie Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage: a naming of the parts.  Tubercle (Edinb) 2005: 85: 127-136.

Gillespie SH., Basu S., Dickens AL., O'Sullivan DM., McHugh TD. The effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin on Mycobacterium fortuitum mutation rates. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2005; 56(2):344-8

Dale JW., Bothamley G H., Drobniewski F., Gillespie SH., McHugh TD., Pitman R.  Origins and properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in London Journal of Medical Microbiology 2005; 54: 575-582.

Gillespie SH., Gosling RD, Uiso, L., Sam NE., Kanduma EG., McHugh TD.  The early bactericidal activity of a moxifloxacin and isoniazid combination in smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2005; 56(6):1169-71.

Perrin FM, Breen RA, Lipman MC, Shorten RJ, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD.  Is there a relationship between Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain type and TB paradoxical reaction? Thorax. 2005 Aug;60(8):706-7

Cullen MM, Sam NE, Kanduma EG, McHugh TD, Gillespie SH. Direct detection of heteroresistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using molecular techniques.  Journal of Medical Microbiology 2006; 55: 1157-1158

Perrin F.,  Gillespie SH.  A new world approach to an old disease.  Good Clinical Practice Journal  2006; (8): 18-21

Maskell NA, Batt S, Hedley EL, Davies CW, Gillespie SH, Davies RJ. The Bacteriology of Pleural Infection by Genetic and Standard Methods and its Mortality Significance  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2006; 174: 817-823

Perrin FM, Lipman MC., McHugh TD., Gillespie SH Biomarkers of Treatment Response in Clinical Trials of Novel Anti-tuberculosis Agents Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007;7(7):481-90

Williams KJ, Ling CL, Jenkins C, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD  A paradigm for the molecular identification of Mycobacterium species in a routine diagnostic laboratory.  Journal of Medical  Microbiology 2007;56:598-602

RAM Breen, SM Barry, CJ Smith, RJ Shorten, JP Dilworth, I Cropley, TD McHugh, SH Gillespie, G Janossy, MCI Lipman. The Clinical Application of a Rapid Lung-Orientated TB Immunoassay in Individuals with Possible Tuberculosis.  Thorax 2007;

Chapman SJ, Khor CC, Vannberg FO, Frodsham A, Walley A, Maskell NA, Davies CW, Segal S, Moore CE, Gillespie SH, Denny P, Day NP, Crook DW, Davies RJ, Hill AV. I{kappa}B Genetic Polymorphisms and Invasive Pneumococcal Disease. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2007;  176(2):181-7

Mulenga V, Ford D, Walker AS, Mwenya D, Mwansa J, Sinyinza F, Lishimpi K, Nunn A, Gillespie S, Zumla A, Chintu C, Gibb DM and the CHAP Trial Team. Effect of cotrimoxazole on causes of death, hospital admissions and antibiotic use in HIV-infected children. AIDS 2007;21(1):77-84.

Nunn, AJ, Phillips, PPJ. & Gillespie, SH. Design issues in pivotal drug trials for drug sensitive tuberculosis (TB). Tuberculosis 2008 Aug: 88, p. S85-S92

Davies, AP, Dhillon, AP, Young, M. Henderson, B. McHugh, TD. & Gillespie, SH.  Resuscitation-promoting factors are expressed in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected human tissue. Tuberculosis 2008 Sept: 88 (5) :462-468.

O Sullivan DM, Hinds J, Butcher PD, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD. Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA repair in response to subinhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin.  J Antimicrob Chemother. 2008 Dec;62(6):1199-202.

Jenkins C, Bacon J, Allnutt J, Hatch KA, Bose A, O Sullivan DM, Arnold C, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD.  Enhanced heterogeneity of rpoB in Mycobacterium tuberculosis found at low pH. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2009 Jun;63(6):1118-20.

Al-Balas Q, Anthony NG, Al-Jaidi B, Alnimr A, Abbott G, Brown AK, Taylor RC, Besra GS, McHugh TD, Gillespie SH, Johnston BF, Mackay SP, Coxon GD. Identification of 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate derivatives active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and the beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase mtFabH. PLoS One. 2009;4(5):e5617.

Gillespie, SH & Bamford, K 2009 , Medical Microbiology and Infection at a Glance, Third Edition edn, Peneerbit erlangga.

Perrin FM, Breen RA, McHugh TD, Gillespie SH, Lipman MC Are patients on treatment for pulmonary TB who stop expectorating sputum genuinely culture negative?   Thorax. 2009 Nov;64(11):1009-10.

Amaral L, Boeree MJ, Gillespie SH, Udwadia ZF, van Soolingen D. Thioridazine cures extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and the need for global trials is now! Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2010, Feb 24

Perrin FRM, F, Woodward, N, Phillips, P, McHugh, T, Nunn, A, Lipman, M & Gillespie, SH 2010,   Radiological cavitation, sputum mycobacterial load and treatment response in pulmonary tuberculosis  , International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases , vol 14, no. 12, pp. 1596-1602.

Gillespie, SH , Pope, CF & McHugh, TD (2010),   Methods to determine fitness in bacteria. Methods in Molecular Biology , 2 edn, vol. 642, Springer Science and Business Media, pp. 113-121.

Gillespie, SH , Amaral, L, Boeree, MJ, Udwadia, Z & van Soolingen, D 2010,   Thioridazine cures extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and the need for global trials is now!, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents , vol 35, no. 6, pp. 524-6.

Gillespie, SH , O Sullivan , DM & McHugh, TD 2010,   Mapping the fitness of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains: a complex picture.  , JOURNAL OF MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY .

Pope, CF , Gillespie, SH , Moore, JE & McHugh, TD 2010,   Approaches to measure the fitness of Burkholderia cepacia complex isolates  , JOURNAL OF MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY , vol 59, no. 6, pp. 679-686.

Mwenya, DM, Charalambous, BM , Phillips, PPJ , Mwansa, JCL, Batt, SL, Nunn, AJ , Walker, S , Gibb, DM & Gillespie, SH 2010,   Impact of Cotrimoxazole on Carriage and Antibiotic Resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae in HIV-Infected Children in Zambia  , Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy , vol 54, no. 9, pp. 3756-3762.

Perrin FM, Woodward N, Phillips PP, McHugh TD, Nunn AJ, Lipman MC, Gillespie SH. Radiological cavitation, sputum mycobacterial load and treatment response in pulmonary tuberculosis. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2010 Dec;14(12):1596-602.

Leung, M., Oriyo, N., Gillespie, S. H. & Charalambous, B.  The adaptive potential during nasopharyngeal colonisation of Streptococcus pneumoniae. 2011 Infection Genetics and Evolution

Honeyborne, I., McHugh, T.D., Phillips, P., Banoo, S., Bateson, A., Carroll, N., Perrin, F., Ronnacher, K., Wright, L., van Helden, P., Walzl, G. & Gillespie, S.H.  Molecular Bacterial Load Assay, a Culture-Free Biomarker for Rapid and Accurate Quantification of Sputum Mycobacterium tuberculosis Bacillary Load during Treatment. 2011 Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 49, 11, p. 3905

Gillespie, S. H. & Singh, K.  Fluoroquinolones in the management of tuberculosis. 2011 Anti-tuberculosis Chemotherapy. Donald, P & van Helden, P. (eds.). 40. Basel : Karger p. 51-60. (Progress in Respiratory Research)

Menzies. S., Rahman, N,. Wrightson, J., Davies, H., Shorten, R., Gillespie.,S.H., Davies, C., Maskell, N., Jeffrey, A., Lee, G. & Davies, R.  Blood culture bottle culture of pleural fluid in pleural infection. 2011 In : Thorax.

Gillespie, S.H. & Murphy, M.  Anti-mycobacterial Drugs. 2011 Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences (eLS)

Gillespie, S.H. & Singh, K. XDR-TB,  What is it; How is it Treated; and Why is Theraputic Failure so High?  31-May-2011 In : Recent Patents Anti-infective Drug Discovery. 6, 2, p.277.

van Igen, J., Aarnoutse, R.e., Donald, P.R., Diacon, A.H., Dawson, R., van Balen, G.P., Gillespie, S.H & Boeree, M.J. Why Do We Use 600mg Rifampicin in TuberculosisTreatment? 1-May-2011In : Clinical Infectious Diseases. 52, 9, p. E194-E199

Gillespie, SH 2011,   Tuberculosis: forgotten but not gone  , Microbiology Today , vol 38, no. 1, pp. 34-37.

Singh, K., Iaurenzi, M., Brown, M. & Gillespie, S.H. Managing malaria in tuberculosis patients on fluoroquinolone-containing regimens: assessing the risk of QT prolongation. Feb-2012 In : International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 16, 2 p. 144 -149

Singh, K., Murphy, M., Brown, M. & Gillespie, S H. Moxifloxacin for tuberculosis. Feb- 2012 Lancet Infectious Diseases, 12, p. 176-177.

Coxon Geoffrey D., Cooper Christoper B., Gillespie Stephen H., McHugh Timothy D. Strategies and challenges involved in the discovry of new chemical entities during early-stage tuberculosis drug discovery. Journal of Infectious Diseases 2012; doi: 10.1093/infdis/jis191