Sheyda Azimi

I received my B.Sc. degree in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Tehran, Iran. I moved to the UK in 2009 to join the University of Nottingham Molecular Medical Microbiology program. After receiving my MSc and Ph.D. in Microbiology, I joined Dr. Diggle’s group as a postdoctoral fellow in 2015 to study the Social Evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronic infections. Since then, my research has been focused on understanding the role of intra-species interactions in heterogeneous P. aeruginosa populations. As part of my Cystic Fibrosis postdoctoral fellowship (2018-2021), I focused on understanding the effects of microbial population heterogeneity on pathogenesis, microbiogeography, and host-pathogen interactions. My long-term goal is to develop frameworks that allow us to monitor and understand the changes in microbial intra-specific interactions that shape microbiogeography and, consequently, the pathogens' physiology during chronic infections.

Research Interests

The core focuses of our lab are to determine the molecular mechanisms of intra-species bacterial population dynamics. We apply molecular biology techniques, imaging, and -omics approaches to investigate the impact of microbial population diversity in human-associated infections.