About
Professor Tim Blower is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University and a member of the Biophysical Sciences Institute Executive Board. His research focuses on toxin-antitoxin systems and bacteriophage interactions, exploring molecular mechanisms of bacterial defense against phages and their implications for antimicrobial resistance. He employs structural biology, biochemistry, and genetic approaches to study these systems.
Key research interests include:
- Antimicrobial resistance mechanisms
- Phage-host interactions and defense systems
- Structural analysis of bacterial toxins and enzymes
- Molecular basis of phage immunity
- Toxin-antitoxin system regulation
His work has led to significant contributions, including studies on the BREX defense system, nucleotidyltransferase toxins, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis. He has been awarded the Lister Institute Prize Fellowship (2019) and the Springboard Award (2017).
Prof. Blower supervises a team of PhD students, including Aditi Biswas, Beth Hardman, and Tom Arrowsmith, among others. His research group investigates topics such as phage defense modularity, tRNA modification by toxins, and structural engineering of bacterial defense proteins.
