Stephen Fordham

Stephen Fordham

  • u_sfordham at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
  • Lecturer In Biosciences
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Research

Currently my research focuses on bacterial whole genome sequencing (WGS) of priority pathogens of clinical concern; mainly Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. WGS enables the complete genome of bacterial pathogens to be discerned. Such efforts not only allow the detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and virulence genes, but also enable the context of those genes to be resolved. Oftentimes, these genes are associated with mobile genetics elements (MGEs) which facilitate their dissemination. To perform such work, I use both long- and short- read sequencing approaches to build high-resolution genomes. Currently I am working with University Hospital Dorset (UHD) NHS Foundation Trust to characterize an extended spectrum β-lactamase K. pneumoniae strain causing a hospital wide outbreak. My work is supported by a Pfizer Global Medical Grant. In line with my sequencing analyses, I also produce publication quality images for improved story-telling. I use a mixture of Python plotting libraries to produce data visualization figures.

Journal Articles

  • Rothschild-Rodriguez, D., Lambon, K., Kushwaha, S., Garushyants, S., Ertelt, M., Agnieszka, L., Ana, C., Anna, M., King, C., Boeckaerts, D., Sheridan, E., Koonin, E., Francesca, M., Drobniewski, F., De Angelis, I., Kordo, S., Martin, M., Sutton, M., Wand, M., Andrew, M., Hedges, M., Brouns, S., Haas, P.-J., Lawson, S., Fordham, S.M.E., Lee, Y.-J., Wu, Y., Briers, Y., Braun, P., Weigele, P., Nobrega, N., 2025. KlebPhaCol: a community-driven resource for Klebsiella research identified a novel phage family. Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), 53 (21).
  • Rothschild-Rodriguez, D., Lambon, K., Kushwaha, S., Garushyants, S., Ertelt, M., Agnieszka, L., Ana, C., Anna, M., King, C., Boeckaerts, D., Sheridan, E., Koonin, E., Francesca, M., Drobniewski, F., De Angelis, I., Kordo, S., Martin, M., Sutton, M., Wand, M., Andrew, M., Hedges, M., Brouns, S., Haas, P.-J., Lawson, S., Fordham, S.M.E., Lee, Y.-J., Wu, Y., Briers, Y., Braun, P., Weigele, P., Nobrega, N., 2025. KlebPhaCol: a community-driven resource for Klebsiella research identified a novel phage family. Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), 53 (21).
  • Fordham, S.M.E., Mantzouratou, A., Sheridan, E., 2025. The Presence of an ESBL-Encoding Plasmid Reported During a Klebsiella pneumoniae Nosocomial Outbreak in the United Kingdom. Microbiology Research, 16 (5).
  • Fordham, S.M.E., Drobniewski, F., Barrow, M., Hutchings, M., Crowther, K., Richards, D., Bolton, P., Mantzouratou, A., Sheridan, E., 2024. Genetic Analyses of Rare ESBL ST628 Klebsiella pneumoniae Detected during a Protracted Nosocomial Outbreak in the United Kingdom. Microorganisms, 12 (5).
  • Fordham, S.M.E., Barrow, M., Mantzouratou, A., Sheridan, E., 2024. Genomic analyses of an Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae urinary tract co-infection using long-read nanopore sequencing. Microbiologyopen, 13 (1).
  • Fordham, S.M.E., Mantzouratou, A., Sheridan, E., 2022. Prevalence of insertion sequence elements in plasmids relating to mgrB gene disruption causing colistin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Microbiologyopen, 11 (1).

Preprints

  • Fordham, S.M.E., 2026. The Evaluation of Machine Learning Models using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Spectra for the Prediction of Antibiotic Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae.
  • Fordham, S., Mantzouratou, A., Sheridan, E.A.. Bioinformatic analyses of plasmid resistome changes in pOXA-48.
The data on this page was last updated at 05:00 on February 18, 2026.