Where we are
Where we are
Where we are
We are an academic research lab based in the Centre for Immunobiology and Infection in the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The Blizard Institute is a multidisciplinary institute with research spanning infection and immunology to neuroscience, trauma and epigenetics
Who we are
Where we are
Where we are
We are an interdisciplinary mix of microbiologists, immunologists, bioinformaticians, nutritionists and clinicians interested in host-microbiome interactions in pregnancy and early life. We work together on projects to understand how our host microbes influence maternal and child health
What we do
Where we are
What we do
We use human studies (observational cohorts and large clinical trials) as a platform to study mechanisms of host microbiome interactions in pregnancy and early life. This includes large-scale metagenomics and metabolomics analyses with microbiology and primary human cell culture
Current Team Members
Holly Eldridge
Holly Eldridge
Holly Eldridge
Holly is a paediatric nurse and has extensive experience caring for children in A&E. Holly runs the NESTED study, consenting parents and their children, taking samples and managing study records.
Amy Coulson
Holly Eldridge
Holly Eldridge
Amy is a PhD student on the COaCT doctoral training programme. Amy's project will combine bioengineering with microbiology to build a vagina organ-chip model. She will use this in vitro model to test how the vaginal microbiome contributes to preterm birth using clinical samples and isolates.
Aqsa Choudhary
Holly Eldridge
Aqsa Choudhary
Aqsa is an M.Sc Bioinformatics student. Aqsa is analysing metagenomics data from the COMBI study to determine the influence of prophylactic antibiotic therapy during pregnancy on maternal and infant antimicrobial resistance gene carriage and downstream associations with adverse birth outcomes
Liya Jain
Holly Eldridge
Aqsa Choudhary
Liya Jain is a qualified Biomedical Scientist and M.Sc student in Clinical Microbiology. Liya is analysing samples from the COMBI study to screen for intestinal enteropathogenic E. coli carriage during pregnancy and its associations with adverse birth outcomes
Joe Eytle
Coming soon (2026): Research Assistant
Coming soon (2026): Research Assistant
Joe is an M.Sc Bioinformatics student. His is analysing single-cell RNA sequencing data from a mouse study to examine the influence of dietary protein and fat and antibiotic exposure in early life on the intestinal epithelium.
Coming soon (2026): Research Assistant
Coming soon (2026): Research Assistant
Coming soon (2026): Research Assistant
Coming soon! The Robertson lab will be hiring a Research Assistant in early 2026 to conduct microbiome sequencing, bacterial isolation and competition assays as part of work in the NESTED study.