Dr Rachel Wheatley

I am an evolutionary microbiologist interested in microbiomes, antimicrobial resistance, and lungs. Prior to joining Magdalen College as a JRF in 2021, I held a fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Institute for Advanced Study, and completed a DPhil in Biology at University College, University of Oxford. Following my JRF at Magdalen, I have taken up a tenure-track position as Vice-Chancellor’s Illuminate Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast. My group will continue work at the interface of antibiotic resistance evolution and interactions in the microbiome. 

You can read more about my research here: https://www.rachelwheatley.com/

Selected Publications

• Caballero, J. D., Wheatley, R. M., Kapel, N., Lopez-Causape, C., Van der Schalk, T., Quinn, A., … & MacLean, R. C (2023). Mixed strain pathogen populations accelerate the evolution of antibiotic resistance in patients. Nature Communications, 14, 4083.  
• Wheatley, R. M., & Ogunlana, L. (2023). Gender shapes the formation of review paper collaborations in microbiology. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 290: 20230965.  
• Wheatley, R. M., Caballero, J. D.§, Van der Schalk, T., de Winter, F. H., Kapel, N., Recanatini, C., … & MacLean, R. C. (2022). Assessing the contribution of gut-to-lung translocation to bacterial colonization and antibiotic resistance in an ICU patient. Nature Communications, 13, 6523. 
• Zaayman, M., & Wheatley, R. M. (2022). Fitness costs of CRISPR-Cas systems in bacteria. Microbiology, 168(7), 001209. 
• Koskella, B., Hernandez, C. A., & Wheatley, R. M. (2022). Understanding the Impacts of Bacteriophage Viruses: From Laboratory Evolution to Natural Ecosystems. Annual Review of Virology, 9. 
• Wheatley, R. M., Caballero, J. D., Kapel, N., de Winter, F. H., Jangir, P., Quinn, A., … & MacLean, C. (2021). Rapid evolution and host immunity drive the rise and fall of carbapenem resistance during an acute Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-12. 
• Wheatley, R. M., & MacLean, R. C. (2021). CRISPR-Cas systems restrict horizontal gene transfer in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The ISME Journal, 15(5), 1420-1433. 
• Wheatley, R. M., Ford, B. L., Li, L., Aroney, S. T., Knights, H. E., Ledermann, R., … & Poole, P. S. (2020). Lifestyle adaptations of Rhizobium from rhizosphere to symbiosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(38), 23823-23834. 
• Wheatley, R. M., Ramachandran, V. K., Geddes, B. A., Perry, B. J., Yost, C. K., & Poole, P. S. (2017). Role of O2 in the growth of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841 on glucose and succinate. Journal of Bacteriology, 199(1), e00572-16.