Esther German

MRC DTP PhD Student

Esther studied Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2012 with an honours degree in Infectious Diseases. She then went on to complete an MSc in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Nottingham.

Esther joined the Respiratory Infection and Vaccine Group in February 2015 as a Research Assistant to work on the Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage model. In 2018, she was accepted onto the MRC Doctoral Training Program run jointly by LSTM and Lancaster University. During the MRes year, she developed quantitative research skills and undertook placements at MLW and in the R&D department of Cultech Ltd.

Most recently, she undertook a 6 month's secondment from her PhD project to support the Respiratory Infection and Vaccine Group's SARS-CoV2 research activities.

Esther's PhD project focuses on the impact of malnutrition on the nasopharyngeal niche in children, in particular susceptibility to pneumococcal carriage.

Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • German EL, Solorzano C et al. Protective effect of PCV vaccine against experimental pneumococcal challenge is primarily mediated by controlling colonisation density. Vaccine 2019. 37(30): 3953-3956. 

      Smith H, German EL, Ferreira DM and Rylance J. Nasopharyngeal colonisation with Streptococcus pneumoniae in malnourished children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2019; 113(5):227-233. 

      Rylance J, de Steenhuijsen Piters et al. Two Randomized Trials of Effect of Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine on Pneumococcal Colonization. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2019; 199(9). 

      German EL, Al-Hakim B et al. Anti-protein immunoglobulin M responses to pneumococcus are not associated with aging. Pneumonia 2018; 10(5). 

      Connor V, German EL et al. Hands are Vehicles for Transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Novel Controlled Human Infection Study. European Respiratory Journal 2018; 52(4).