Dr Osaretin Patience Adkin

Dr Adkin is a Medical Microbiologist with research interests in infection prevention and controls, which includes activities and mode of action of disinfectants and antimicrobials. Her undergraduate degree in Medical Microbiology was from the University of Leicester in 2015, followed by an MSc in Biomedical Science from Nottingham Trent University in 2016. She completed a PhD in Microbiology at the School of Pharmacy De Montfort University Leicester in 2020, under the supervision of Professor Susannah Walsh, studying the molecular basis of bacterial disinfectant resistance and cross-resistance in antibiotics. On completion of her PhD, she worked on various industrial-academic collaborative projects at the School of Pharmacy De Montfort University Leicester which includes:

• Investigation of the stability and risks of fomite transmission of the human coronavirus HCoV-OC43,
• The anti-biofilm effects of hydrogen peroxide and its activation by a novel heterogeneous Fenton’s-like PAN catalyst, against biofilm formed by the emerging pathogenic fungus Candida auris ,
• The interactions of bacterial contamination with healthcare mattress textiles specifically designed to repel microorganisms.

In 2021 she took up a PDRA role at the Pirbright institute Woking , where targeted gene editing (CRISPR/cas9) was used in improving avian cell lines, with the potential to support high-yield vaccine growth of Influenza viruses H3N2, H5N3 and Newcastle disease virus (NDV).

Current project

She joined the University of Sheffield in June 2022 on an industrial-academic collaborative project, She is currently working on a clinical performance study of a novel IVD device for the detection of SARS-COV-2 , to help evaluate how well the device can detect infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Featured publications

• Adkin P, Hitchcock A, Smith LJ, Walsh SE. Priming with biocides: A pathway to antibiotic resistance? J Appl Microbiol. 2022 Aug;133(2):830-841. doi: 10.1111/jam.15564. Epub 2022 May 16. PMID: 35384175; PMCID: PMC9543593.
• Maitreyi Shivkumar, Pat Adkin, Lucy Owen, Katie Laird, Investigation of the stability and risks of fomite transmission of human coronavirus OC43 on leather, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 368, Issue 16, August 2021, fnab112