Liz Sockett is a bacteriologist who studies the biological mechanisms and antibiotic-like applications of a predatory bacterium called Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.  

Liz and her lab work with many inspiring collaborators in the USA, Japan, Europe and UK, including Dr Andy Lovering of Birmingham University, with whom she shares a joint Wellcome Investigator Award on predation-biochemistry. She and colleagues have successfully treated bacterial infections of chickens, mushrooms and zebrafish with Bdellovibrio.  They have discovered mechanisms by which predators encounter and enter prey bacteria, dine privately inside them and escape from their remains afterwards. These natural processes inform next-generation antibiotic treatments.

Liz likes to understand how tiny bacteria can perform complex functions, such as using sunlight for photosynthesis, swimming with flagellar propellers or invading each other. Having received a good molecular education, (and a science-supporting husband), at Leeds University, she enjoys sharing this understanding with undergraduates, the public, and with her wonderful lab, past and present.

Liz is Professor of Bacterial Genetics at Nottingham University’s School of Life Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the Royal Society of Biology.