Linda Stewart

Linda obtained both her BSc (Joint Honours) in Genetics and Microbiology (1987) and her PhD in Clinical Microbiology (1993) at Queen's University Belfast. Her PhD was based on the gut bacterium Bacteroides fragilis and investigations of its antigenic variation in clinical samples. She completed her PhD on a part time basis while employed full time as a Senior Biomedical Scientist in the Microbiology department at Craigavon Area Hospital Group Trust before returning to research at Queen’s in 2005. As a post-doctoral researcher she worked on a number of projects producing novel binders and using these to develop new technologies for the detection of harmful contaminants in food. In 2012 she was appointed as a part-time lecturer in Microbiology which was converted to a full time position in 2015. Her research at QUB focuses on: biomarker discovery; binder generation, characterisation and mapping, including monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, phage display derived binders, scFv antibodies; epitope mapping; and immunodiagnostic assay development and validation using a range of platforms from the research laboratory to the commercial market. She has maintained her interest in the human microbiome and is involved in research into bacterial pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance. Key achievements include production of an anti-toxin antibody currently used in a commercially available diagnostic assay, and development of a unique novel immunodiagnostic assay capable of differentiating Mycobacterium bovis from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She is also currently mapping epitopes on a recently identified ubiquitin like protein isolated from Bacteroides fragilis.