Dr Raymond Kiu BSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Raymond Kiu

Department of Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
r.k.o.kiu@bham.ac.uk

Dr Raymond Kiu is a computational and experimental microbiologist who studies early-life human gut microbiomes and pathogen genomics within Prof Lindsay Hall’s group at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection. His research primarily focuses on understanding the roles of various microbial communities and particularly bacterial pathogens (including Clostridium spp.) in the preterm infant gut via Next-Generation and Third-Generation Sequencing techniques including Shotgun Metagenome Sequencing, Whole Genome Sequencing, Amplicon Sequencing and RNA Sequencing. His on-going collaborative works also include probiotic Bifidobacterium spp. and multidrug-resistant pathogen Enterococcus spp., as well as exploring the gut resistome, i.e. the collection of antibiotic resistance genes within gut microbiome, in the context of preterm infant.

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Qualifications

  • PhD in Biomedical Sciences, University of East Anglia, 2019
  • MSc in Nutrition and Food Science, University of Reading, 2013
  • BSc in Nutrition and Health Sciences, Taipei Medical University, 2008

Biography

Dr Raymond Kiu obtained his BSc in Nutritional and Health Sciences from Taipei Medical University in 2008 under which programme he was professionally trained as a clinical dietitian. He then undertook an MSc at the University of Reading in Nutritional and Food Sciences where he was involved in investigating the protective effects of bioactive compounds anthocyanins on human immune cells.

He then went on to do a PhD in Microbiology at the University of East Anglia, while he was primarily based at Quadram Institute as a PhD student. His PhD research concentrated on understanding the genomics and pathogenicity of Clostridium perfringens in relation to gastrointestinal diseases using genomic approach, in vitro assays and pre-clinical models.

He obtained his PhD in 2019 and subsequently started a Research Scientist position at Quadram Institute. During this time, he explored the probiotic role and impact of Bifidobacterium in early life (both pregnancy and infancy) using both bioinformatics (Next Generation Sequencing) and experimental approaches (including metabolomics). In the meantime he continued his previous PhD works on understanding disease-causing mechanisms of gut pathogen Clostridium perfringens  in preterm gut and antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus species in immuno-compromised patients, both represented his long-term research interest.

Dr Raymond Kiu joined the Institute of Microbiology and Infection the University of Birmingham in 2023 as a Research Fellow within Prof Lindsay Hall’s lab.

Research

Understanding the gut microbiome

This includes the preterm infant gut microbiome, a long-term research interest within the Prof Lindsay Hall lab, also animal and adult human gut microbiomes in the context of health-promoting and disease development. Dr Kiu is experienced in analysing gut microbiome data, having worked with multiple international collaborators previously.

Gut pathogens

Dr Kiu remains interested in understanding the roles of gut pathogen Clostridium perfringens in both humans and animals using sequencing/computational techniques as well as wet lab assays. In addition, he also studies multi-drug-resistant bacterium Enterococcus in diseased patients.

Other activities

  • Member of the Microbiology society
  • Reviewer for the Microbiology Society journal Microbial Genomics (2020 – present)

Publications

Dalby, M. J., Kiu, R., Serghiou, I. R., Miyazaki, A., Acford-Palmer, H., Tung, R., Caim, S., Phillips, S., Kujawska, M., Matsui, M., Iwamoto, A., Taking, B., Cox, S. E., & Hall, L. J.(2024). Faecal microbiota and cytokine profiles of rural Cambodian infants linked to diet and diarrhoeal episodes. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 10, Article 85. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-024-00562-0

Lopez-Tello, J., Kiu, R., Schofield, Z., Zhang, C. X. W., Sinderen, D. V., Gall, G. L., Hall, L. J., & Sferruzzi-Perri, A. N. (2024). Maternal gut Bifidobacterium breve modifies fetal brain metabolism in germ-free mice. Molecular metabolism, Article 102004. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2024.102004

Teng, N. M. Y., Kiu, R., Evans, R., Baker, D. J., Zenner, C., Robinson, S. D., & Hall, L. J. (2023). Allocoprobacillus halotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov and Coprobacter tertius sp. nov., isolated from human gut microbiota. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 73(7), Article 005950. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.005950

Serghiou, I. R., Baker, D., Evans, R., Dalby, M. J., Kiu, R., Trampari, E., Phillips, S., Watt, R., Atkinson, T., Murphy, B., Hall, L. J., & Webber, M. A. (2023). An efficient method for high molecular weight bacterial DNA extraction suitable for shotgun metagenomics from skin swabs. Microbial Genomics, 9(7), Article 001058. https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.001058

Neumann, C. J., Mahnert, A., Kumpitsch, C., Kiu, R., Dalby, M. J., Kujawska, M., Madl, T., Kurath-Koller, S., Urlesberger, B., Resch, B., Hall, L. J., & Moissl-Eichinger, C. (2023). Clinical NEC prevention practices drive different microbiome profiles and functional responses in the preterm intestine. Nature Communications, 14(1), Article 1349. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36825-1

Kiu, R., Shaw, A. G., Sim, K., Acuna-Gonzalez, A., Price, C. A., Bedwell, H., Dreger, S. A., Fowler, W. J., Cornwell, E., Pickard, D., Belteki, G., Malsom, J., Phillips, S., Young, G. R., Schofield, Z., Alcon-Giner, C., Berrington, J. E., Stewart, C. J., Dougan, G., ... Hall, L. J. (2023). Particular genomic and virulence traits associated with preterm infant-derived toxigenic Clostridium perfringens strains. Nature Microbiology, 8(6), 1160-1175. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01385-z

Lopez-Tello, J., Schofield, Z., Kiu, R., Dalby, M. J., van Sinderen, D., Le Gall, G., Sferruzzi-Perri, A. N., & Hall, L. J. (2022). Maternal gut microbiota Bifidobacterium promotes placental morphogenesis, nutrient transport and fetal growth in mice. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 79(7), Article 386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04379-y

 https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/persons/raymond-kiu/publications/