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Dr. Catherine Adley CBiol. FIBiol. 

Head of Department Chemical & Environmental Science

Tel: +353 61 202646. Fax: +353 61 202568. E mail: Catherine.Adley@ul.ie
Catherine Adley received her primary degree in microbiology from the National University of Ireland,Galway. Her Ph.D. thesis was a study of the Epidemiology of R-factors resistance in Escherichia coli.  

Research Interests 

  • Environmental microbiology and biofilm formation

Biofilm formation in Industrial Ultra Pure Water: Work has been underway on biofilm indicators in Ralstonia pickettii, this organism is a persistent and consistent contaminant of UPW systems, which is important for the biopharmaceutical and semi-conductor industries.

The Microbiology Laboratory has an interest in the interaction of microorganisms in the environment, in particular the community of microorganisms in turfgrass root rhizosphere.

In cIn conjunction with the Oral Maxillary Facial unit of the Mid Western Health Board, a project is underway on biofilm formation in oral dentistry

 

  • Food pathogens

The surveillance and epidemiology of food borne pathogen is a major research theme in the Microbiology laboratory. In particular on Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. including cross contamination and post processing contamination. There is also a new project underway on the development of a rapid detection kit for the Bacillus cereus group. 

  • Antibiotic resistance surveillance and trends.

The use of antibiotics and emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in food, clinical, agricultural and marine bacteria is a focus of research in the microbiology laboratory.  We are especially interested in the analysis of antibiotic resistance from food sources.  

  • Biotechnology education and awareness

As a lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Limerick, my focus on innovative teaching methods has always been important. As a member of an EU framework programme IV and V, on a concerted action network EIBE- European Initiative in Biotechnology Education, interactive, role model and experimentation materials have been developed with an European emphasis which are available in European languages on line at http://www.eibe.info

Funding has been secured in the EU framework programme VI to develop an  European multimedia repository of (i) science , and (ii)  European food science: production, quality and safety. Partners include the Technical University of Munich, the European Broadcasting Union, ProBio Partners, Visions Unlimited and Dialog-Gentechnik. www.eusem.com

Committee Membership and Advisory Boards

Nominated by An Tanaiste, Mary Harney, TD, to the Scientific Committee of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland  www.fsai.ie

 

National Elected Member of the  Science and Technology Committee of the Royal Dublin Society  www.rds.ie

 

Nominated by Mr. Philip Busquin to the Advisory Committee of the EU Framework Six Science and Society directorate.
 http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/index_en.html

 

Fellowship:

 

Fellow of the Institute of Biology London, since 1999. www.iob.org. 

 

Membership:

 

Member of WITS (Women in Technology and Science), vice chairperson 1998-1999. www.witsireland.com. 

 

Committee member (1995-1998 and 2005- ) of the Irish Branch of the Society for General Microbiology (SGM). www.socgenmicrobiol.org.uk.  

Member of BSAC (British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy) www.basc.org.uk Member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) www.asmusa.org

Member of the Biofilm Club,UK. www.biofilmclub.co.uk

Recent Publications: 

Ralstonia pickettii Biofilm Publications

  1. Pembroke T.P., Adley CC. Ryan M.P., (2007) BAP-like proteins associated with meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are involved in biofilm formation and virulence and may provide a target for drug intervention in Staphylococcal infection. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin ( in press)

  2.  Ryan M.P., Pembroke T.P., Adley CC. (2007) Ralstonia pickettii in environmental biotechnology: potential and applications. Journal of Applied Microbiology (accepted)

  3. Arshak K., Adley CC., Moore EG., Cunniffe C., Campion M., Harris J ( 2006) Characterisation of polymer nanocoposite sensors for quantification of bacterial cultures. Sensors and Actuators B ( in press)

  4. Arshak K.,  Adley CC., Moore EG.,Cunniffe C., Campion M., Menvielle I.( 2007). Detection of Ralstonia pickettii Bacteria in M9 Medium using Polymer Nanocomposite Sensors. Sensors Application Syposium February 2007 San Diago(Accepted)

  5.  Arshak K., Adley C.C., Moore E., Cunniffe C., Campion M., Nicholson M., and Harris J. (2006). Characterisation of polymer nanocomposite sensors for quantification of bacterial cultures. In Proceeding of the European Materisal Research Symposium E-MRS June 2006 Nice France.

  6. Ryan, M.P., Pembroke, J.T., and Adley, C.C., (2006)  Ralstonia pickettii: A growing nosocomial infectious threat. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin 3(3): 63-64.

  7. Adley B., and Adley C.C. (2006). Architecture and event detection in the  temperature controlled logistics supply chain. In Intellegent Manufacturing Now. Eds. Lewis H., Gaughan B, and Burke.  Gemini Iternational Ltd., Dublin [ISBN 1874653933]. pp11-15

  8. Ryan MP Pembroke J.T., Adley C.C (2005) Ralstonia pickettii a persistent gram negative nosocomial infectious agent.  Journal of Hospital Infection. 62(3):278-284 [PMID: 16337309

  9. Ryan M., Pembroke JT.  and Adley CC., (2005). Ralstonia pickettii: a persistant gram negative nosocomial infectious organism. Journal of Hospital Infection (Accepted).

  10. Adley C C., Ryan M P, Pembroke J T and Saieb F M (2005) Ralstonia pickettii in high purity water. In Biofilms:Persistance and Ubiquity. Eds. Mc Bain A., Alison D., Pratten J.,  Spratt D., Upton M., and Verran J. Cardiff. BioLine. pp261-272

  11. Adley C C and Saieb F M (2005) Comparisn of bioMerieux API 20NE and Remel RapID Plus Identification systems of Type strain of Ralstonia pickettii Letters in Applied Microbiology. 41:136-140.

  12.   Adley C.C. and Saieb F. (2005) Ralstonia pickettii; a potential nosocomial infectious pathogen. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin 3(1):53-55.

  13.  Adley C.C. and Saieb FM (2005). Biofilm formation in high purity water: Ralstonia pickettii a special case for analysis. Ultrapure Water Journal Jan/Feb 14-17

  14. O’Neill, M., Brabazon, A. and Adley, C.  (2004). The Automatic Generation of Programs for Classification Problems with Grammatical Swarm,  Proceedings of the 2004  IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation,  Vol. 1, pp.  104-110, (ISBN 0-7803-8515-2),  IEEE Press: New Jersey.

  15.  Adley C.C. (2000). Mulkear River: Effects of climatic conditions on the land damage and fish kill of August 1997. Report to the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board for the Minister of the Marine and Natural Resources.

 Food borne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance publications

Book
Adley CC (2005) Food Borne Pathogens: Methods and Protocols. Totoya NJ Humana Press. Methods in Biotechnology Series Vol. 21.

  1. Gorman R and Adley C C. (2005) Campylobacter: isolation, identification and preservation In, Food Borne Pathogens: Methods and Protocols  Editor Adley C C Chapter 3 Totowa New Jersey  Humana Press USA. pp27-35.

  2. Gorman R and Adley C C. (2005) Pulsed field gel electrophoresis as a molecular tehcnique in epidemiological studies In, Food Borne Pathogens: Methods and Protocols  Editor Adley C C Chapter 8 Totowa New Jersey  Humana Press USA. pp81-90

  3. Molnar C., Wels R., and Adley C C. (2005) A review of surveillance networks of food borne diseases. In, Food Borne Pathogens: Methods and Protocols  Editor Adley C C Chapter 19 Totowa New Jersey  Humana Press USA. pp251-258

  4.  Adley C.C. and Molnar C. (2005) Specific identification of the Bacillus cereus group. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin 3(1): 56-57. 

  5. Gorman R. and Adley C.C. ( 2004). Characterisation of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolates from Human, Food and Animal sources in the Republic of Ireland. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 42(5): 2314-2316

  6. Gorman R. and Adley C.C. (2004). An evaluation of five presertvation techniques and conventional freezing temperatures of –200C and –850C for long term preservation of Campylobacter jejuni. Letters in Applied Microbiology 38(4): 306-310.

  7. Gorman, R. and C.C. Adley, (2003). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of clinical isolates of Salmonella and Campylobacter over a two-year period in the Mid-West Region of the Republic of Ireland. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin, 2(1), 67. 

  8. Gorman, R. and C.C. Adley, (2003). Nalidixic acid resistance strains of Salmonella showing decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones in the mid-west region of the Republic of Ireland.  Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 51:1047-1049.  

  9. Gorman, R., S. Bloomfield and C.C. Adley, (2002). A study of cross-contamination of food-borne pathogens in the domestic kitchen in the Republic of Ireland. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 76:143-150. 
    Cotter G. and Adley C.C. (2001).  Ciprofloxacin susceptibility testing of enterococcal urinary isolates in accordance with BSAC guidelines. J. Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 48:315-329.

  10. Cotter G. and Adley C.C. (2001). A comparison and evaluation of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the enterococci performed in accordance with six national committee standardised disk diffusion procedures. J. Clin. Microbiol 39(10):3753-3756. 

Biotechnology education and awareness:

Adley C.C. (2001). The Farmer and GM Crops. Farm & Food (Special Biotechnology Issue). Research and Development Digest of Teagasc, the Agricultural Food and Development Authority. Spring 2001,p38-39.

Morris S.M. and Adley C.C. (2001). Irish public perception and attitudes to modern biotechnology: an overview with a focus on GM foods. Trends in Biotechnology 19:43-48

Adley C.C. and Garvin W. (2000). Gene technologies: emerging attitudes to the new applications of gene technology in Ireland. in Teaching Biotechnology at Schools: A European Perspective. Editors H. Bayrhuber, W. Garvin and J Grainger IPN Kiel. p127-136.

Morris S.M. and Adley C.C. (2000). Genetically Modified Food Issues: Attitudes of Irish University Scientists. British Food Journal.102:669-691.

Morris, S.M. and Adley C.C. (2000). Evolving European GM Regulation: An example of biopolitics at work. Trends in Biotechnology. 18:325-326. 

 

Last Modified   3rd March 2008       Email: WebeditorCES@ul.ie