Adrian Cookson

Adrian Cookson received his PhD in Microbiology from University of Manchester, UK, in 1996. His thesis work in collaboration with Unilever Research involved the characterisation of the coaggregation and adhesion of Prevotella spp. to tooth and periodontal surfaces in the oral cavity.

Thereafter he undertook a series of post doctoral research projects at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, UK study the adhesion and colonisation characteristics of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in cattle and sheep.

Adrian came to New Zealand to a position at AgResearch in 2001 to study bacteriocin molecules associated with rumen bacteria and since then has been involved in a number of projects including the Rumen Microbial Genomics project led by Graeme Attwood, the Food-Microbe-Host programme led by Nicole Roy and has developed close collaboration with Professor Nigel French (Massey University) and staff at the Enteric Reference Lab (ESR, Porirua) investigating novel on-farm mitigation strategies for the reduction of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

Presently his research aims to determine the mechanisms by which rumen bacteria colonise forage material in the rumen and the mechanisms by which forage is degraded in the rumen ecosystem in the "Lignocellulose degrading enzymes from rumen microbes to improve digestive efficiency in ruminants" FRST programme.