Project
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Funded by Natural Environment Research Council.
Collaboration with Bangor University and University of Warwick.
"Quantifying and understanding the potential role of marine plastic debris for the persistence and dispersal of potentially pathogenic microorganisms is of pressing importance and global significance. This project will characterise the range of microbial colonisation dynamics on microplastics, from their source through to delivery at ocean receptors." See more on the project’s website http://www.plasticvectors.stir.ac.uk
Total award value £550,979.20
Professor, BES
Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences
Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences
Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences
Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences
Article
Woodford L, Messer LF, Ormsby MJ, White HL, Fellows R & Quilliam RS (2025) Exploiting microplastics and the plastisphere for the surveillance of human pathogenic bacteria discharged into surface waters in wastewater effluent. Water Research, 281, p. 123563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.123563
Article
Metcalf R, Akinbobola A, Woodford L & Quilliam RS (2025) Thermotolerance, virulence, and drug resistance of human pathogenic Candida species colonising plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 32, pp. 14993-15005. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-025-36558-2
Article
Pow CJ, Fellows R, White HL, Woodford L & Quilliam RS (2025) Fluvial flooding and plastic pollution – The delivery of potential human pathogenic bacteria into agricultural fields. Environmental Pollution, 366, Art. No.: 125518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125518
Article
Mphasa M, Ormsby MJ, Mwapasa T, Nambala P, Chidziwisano K, Morse T, Feasey N & Quilliam RS (2025) Urban waste piles are reservoirs for human pathogenic bacteria with high levels of multidrug resistance against last resort antibiotics: a comprehensive temporal and geographic field analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 484, Art. No.: 136639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136639
Article
Ormsby MJ, Woodford L, Fellows R, White HL & Quilliam RS (2024) Rapid colonisation of environmental plastic waste by pathogenic bacteria drives adaptive phenotypic changes. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 480, Art. No.: 136359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136359
Article
Ormsby MJ, Woodford L, White HL, Fellows R & Quilliam RS (2024) The plastisphere can protect Salmonella Typhimurium from UV stress under simulated environmental conditions. Environmental Pollution, 358, Art. No.: 124464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124464
Article
Oliver DM, Metcalf R, Jones DL, Matallana-Surget S, Thomas DN, Robins P, Tulloch CL, Cotterell BM, Williams G, Christie-Oleza JA & Quilliam RS (2024) Plastic pollution and human pathogens: Towards a conceptual shift in risk management at bathing water and beach environments. Water Research, 261, Art. No.: 122028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122028
Article
Woodford L, Fellows R, White HL, Ormsby MJ, Pow CJ & Quilliam RS (2024) Survival and transfer potential of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium colonising polyethylene microplastics in contaminated agricultural soils. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31, pp. 51353-51363. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-34491-4
Article
Can plastic pollution drive the emergence and dissemination of novel zoonotic diseases?
Ormsby MJ, Woodford L & Quilliam RS (2024) Can plastic pollution drive the emergence and dissemination of novel zoonotic diseases?. Environmental Research, 246, Art. No.: 118172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118172
Article
Akinbobola A, Kean R & Quilliam RS (2024) Plastic pollution as a novel reservoir for the environmental survival of the drug resistant fungal pathogen Candida auris. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 198, Art. No.: 115841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115841
Article
Metcalf R, Messer LF, White HL, Ormsby MJ, Matallana-Surget S & Quilliam RS (2024) Evidence of interspecific plasmid uptake by pathogenic strains of Klebsiella isolated from microplastic pollution on public beaches. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 461, Art. No.: 132567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132567
Article
Ormsby MJ, White HL, Metcalf R, Oliver DM, Feasey NA & Quilliam RS (2024) Enduring pathogenicity of African strains of Salmonella on plastics and glass in simulated peri-urban environmental waste piles. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 461, p. 132439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132439
Article
Ormsby MJ, Woodford L, White HL, Fellows R, Oliver DM & Quilliam RS (2024) Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae can cycle between environmental plastic waste and floodwater: Implications for environmental management of cholera. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 461, p. 132492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132492
Article
Ormsby MJ, Akinbobola A & Quilliam RS (2023) Plastic pollution and fungal, protozoan, and helminth pathogens – a neglected environmental and public health issue?. Science of The Total Environment, 882, Art. No.: 163093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163093
Article
Ormsby MJ, White HL, Metcalf R, Oliver DM & Quilliam RS (2023) Clinically important E. coli strains can persist, and retain their pathogenicity, on environmental plastic and fabric waste. Environmental Pollution, 326, Art. No.: 121466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121466
Article
Metcalf R, White HL, Ormsby MJ, Oliver DM & Quilliam RS (2023) From wastewater discharge to the beach: Survival of human pathogens bound to microplastics during transfer through the freshwater-marine continuum. Environmental Pollution, 319, Art. No.: 120955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120955
Article
Moresco V, Charatzidou A, Oliver DM, Weidmann M, Matallana-Surget S & Quilliam RS (2022) Binding, recovery, and infectiousness of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses associated with plastic pollution in surface water. Environmental Pollution, 308, Art. No.: 119594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119594
Article
Predicting the dispersal of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the wastewater treatment plant to the coast
Robins PE, Dickson N, Kevill JL, Malham SK, Singer AC, Quilliam RS & Jones DL (2022) Predicting the dispersal of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the wastewater treatment plant to the coast. Heliyon, 8 (9), Art. No.: e10547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10547
Article
Metcalf R, White HL, Moresco V, Ormsby MJ, Oliver DM & Quilliam RS (2022) Sewage-associated plastic waste washed up on beaches can act as a reservoir for faecal bacteria, potential human pathogens, and genes for antimicrobial resistance. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 180, Art. No.: 113766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113766
Article
Metcalf R, Oliver DM, Moresco V & Quilliam RS (2022) Quantifying the importance of plastic pollution for the dissemination of human pathogens: The challenges of choosing an appropriate 'control' material. Science of The Total Environment, 810, Art. No.: 152292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152292
Article
Moresco V, Oliver DM, Weidmann M, Matallana-Surget S & Quilliam RS (2021) Survival of human enteric and respiratory viruses on plastics in soil, freshwater, and marine environments. Environmental Research, 199, Art. No.: 111367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111367
Article
Colonisation of plastic pellets (nurdles) by E. coli at public bathing beaches
Rodrigues A, Oliver D, McCarron A & Quilliam R (2019) Colonisation of plastic pellets (nurdles) by E. coli at public bathing beaches. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 139, pp. 376-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.01.011