Hilary has a degree in Agricultural Science from University College Dublin and Masters in Biotechnology from University College Cork. Hilary joined the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge in the UK as a computational biologist before joining Trevor Lawley’s lab, (also at the Sanger Institute) as a research assistant. During this time, he completed his PhD supervised by Trevor Lawley and Brendan Wren based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and was also awarded the Garnham award from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for outstanding research student completing a doctoral thesis in the area of basic or laboratory science. Following his PhD, Hilary was promoted to Staff Scientist and then Senior Staff Scientist at the Sanger. In 2023 Hilary was awarded an ERC Starter Grant and commenced his current role as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Microbiology and APC Microbiome Ireland in 2024. Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=h3JT8HsAAAAJ&hl=en

Hilary’s team seek to characterise the ecology, evolution and functions of gut bacteria. A primary research focus is intestinal spore-forming bacteria. Spore-formation is prevalent in the human gut and provides a means for anaerobic bacteria to transmit effectively between hosts, ensuring their survival. Hilary’s team uses anaerobic microbiology, genomic and metagenomic approaches to understand the metabolic properties of spore-formers, the genetic architecture and evolution of spore-formation and the phenotypic triggers of sporulation and germination. Given their resistance properties, a deeper understanding of intestinal sporulation processes could also allow spores to be used to effectively deliver therapeutic anaerobic bacteria to the gut.