Upon completion of my PhD thesis, I spent four years as a post-doctoral researcher (Mottram/Coombs group) at the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, University of Glasgow, studying Leishmania mexicana cysteine proteases. This was followed by a further post-doctoral position at the University of Leeds (Elwyn Isaac’s group) studying metalloproteases in the model free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. I joined the University of Salford in 2003 as a lecturer and my fascination with parasites and proteases continues.

I am also passionate about internationalisation of education. To this end, I lead undergraduate exchange programme links (Biology and Biochemistry) with the University of Toledo, Ohio. I am also the ELS International Tutor.

One area of research interest is parasite/nematode proteases. Genome sequencing efforts have shown that organisms not only have large and diverse families of proteases but interestingly, they also contain many ‘non-peptidase’ homologues. In collaboration with Elwyn Isaac (University of Leeds) we have shown that a non-peptidase member of the angiotensin-converting enzyme family (acn-1) is essential for moulting in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

My other area of interest is focussed on parasite infections in wildlife; in particular, threatened species of wildlife. For example, bats are host to a multitude of infectious agents, including viruses that pose a zoonotic threat, and parasites. We have recently shown that pipistrelle bats are commonly infected with digenean trematodes; the life-cycle details of many of the species are not fully described. In addition, male pipistrelles showed a significantly more aggregated helminth distribution and lower parasite abundance than female bats. The ecology of these parasite species and how they interact with other co-infections carried by bats remains to be elucidated.

Brooks, D.R. (1995) ‘Isolation and characterisation of the gene encoding dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS) from the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.’ Ph.D thesis, U.M.I.S.T. Brooks, D.R., Denise, H., Westrop, G.D., Coombs, G.H. & Mottram, J.C. (2001) The stage-regulated expression of Leishmania mexicana CPB cysteine proteases is mediated by an intercistronic sequence element. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 47061-47069. Brooks,D.R., Appleford, P.J., Murray, L. & Isaac, R.E. (2003) An essential role in moulting and morphogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans for ACN-1, a novel member of the angiotensin-converting enzyme family that lacks a metallopeptidase active site. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 52340-52346. Brooks, D.R., Hooper, N.M. & Isaac R.E. (2003) The Caenorhabditis elegans orthologue of mammalian puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase has roles in embryogenesis and reproduction. J. Biol.Chem.278, 42795-42801. Fortin, S.M., Marshall, S.L., Jaeger, E.C., Greene, P.E., Brady, L.K., Isaac, R.E., Schrandt, J.C., Brooks, D.R. & Lyczak, R. (2010) The PAM-1 aminopeptidase regulates centrosome positioning to ensure anterior-posterior axis specification in one-cell C. elegans embryos. Dev. Biol. 344, 992-1000. Lord, J.S., Parker, S., Parker, F. & Brooks, D.R. (2012) Gastrointestinal helminths of pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus/Pipistrellus pygmaeus) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) of England. Parasitology 139, 366-374.