Dr Damian Rivett

Academic and professional qualifications

2019 PgCert. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Manchester Metropolitan University

2013 PhD. Assessing the impact of biodiversity on ecosystem function in clinically derived bacterial communities, King's College London.

2007 MSc. Forensic Science, King's College London.

2006 BSc. Hons Biochemistry with Medical Biochemistry, Cardiff University.

Previous employment

2013 - 2017 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London.

Why study Microbial Ecology?

All life depends on interactions with microscopic organisms. These interactions facilitate thousands of different organisms to communicate and have an impact on the whole ecosystem in both positive and negative ways. The use of, now commonplace, sequencing technologies has revolutionised the field of microbiology, but it is the ecology of these organisms that will allow us to understand what they are doing.

It is an exciting time to study microbial ecology. With the ever increasing technological advances we are now getting unparalleled amounts of data through which we can craft theories that underpin life on Earth. We can also use the knowledge of theory to tackle pressing issues such as the rise of antimicrobial resistance, pressures on food production, the progression of infectious disease, and rewilding of “lost” habitats.

Undergraduate courses

I teach on the degree titles Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, and Zoology on the following units

Year 1

6F4Z1106 How Science Works

6F4Z1107 Biomolecules and Cells

6F4Z1108 Fundamental Microbiology (Unit Coordinator)

Year 2

6F5Z1104 Biochemistry

6F5Z1112 Microbiology

Year 3

6F6Z1002 Environmental Microbiology

6F6Z1021-25 Biology Degree Schemes Project (Unit Coordinator)

Postgraduate supervision (completed/in progress)

MSc by Research

Lewis Browett How does seawater influx ellicit compositional and functional changes in plant associated microbial communities? (in progress)

PhD

Lauren Hadfield (in progress)

Michelle Hardman (in progress)

Helen Gavillet (in progress)

Ryan Marsh (in progress)

Research expertise

As a microbiologist and ecologist, I have a directed interest in how microbial species communicate (in terms of public goods and horizontal gene transfer) and are able to persist in highly diverse communities. This question allows me to combine experimental microbiology with next generation sequencing to go beyond simply surveying the diversity, and understand functional processes underpinning the community dynamics.

I currently utilise experimental microbial systems to investigate mechanistic processes that determine the survival of bacterial species within varied communities. This combines various “omic” approaches with the more traditional culture approach to understand the role this diversity plays in the wider functioning of the communities.

Many questions remain unanswered in microbial ecology; general, reproducible data that tests wider-ecological theories is paramount. To achieve this I use a wide variety of samples from rain-filled pools amongst the roots of trees to plant associated soil, and even sputum expectorated due to respiratory disease. This way I can ask both fundamental and highly applied questions of my data.

Academic collaborations

I currently have collaborations with institutions both here in the UK and aboard:

Imperial College London (UK)

King's College London (UK)

University of Cambridge (UK)

University of Liverpool (UK)

University of York (UK)

University of Innsbruck (AT)

Publications

• Featured Works

  DW. Rivett, T. Bell Abundance determines the functional role of bacterial phylotypes in complex communities. Nature Microbiology. 3, pp.767-772.

  DW. Rivett, ML. Jones, J. Ramoneda, SB. Mombrikotb, E. Ransome, et al. T. Bell. (2018). Elevated success of multispecies bacterial invasions impacts community composition during ecological succession. Ecology Letters. 21(4), pp.516-524.

• Journal articles

  JP. Ritson, DM. Alderson, CH. Robinson, AE. Burkitt, A. Heinemeyer, et al. AG. Stimson, A. Gallego-Sala, A. Harris, A. Quillet, AA. Malik, B. Cole, BJM. Robroek, CM. Heppell, DW. Rivett, DM. Chandler, DR. Elliott, EL. Shuttleworth, E. Lilleskov, F. Cox, GD. Clay, I. Diack, J. Rowson, J. Pratscher, JR. Lloyd, JS. Walker, LR. Belyea, MG. Dumont, M. Longden, NGA. Bell, RRE. Artz, RD. Bardgett, RI. Griffiths, R. Andersen, SE. Chadburn, SM. Hutchinson, SE. Page, T. Thom, W. Burn, MG. Evans. (2020). Towards a microbial process-based understanding of the resilience of peatland ecosystem service provisioning – A research agenda. Science of The Total Environment. 759,

  I. Vyrides, DW. Rivett, KD. Bruce, AK. Lilley (2019). Selection and assembly of indigenous bacteria and methanogens from spent metalworking fluids and their potential as a starting culture in a fluidized bed reactor. Microbial Biotechnology. 12(6), pp.1302-1312.

  ML. Jones, DW. Rivett, A. Pascual-García, T. Bell Productive bacterial communities exclude invaders. bioRxiv.

  DW. Rivett, T. Bell Abundance determines the functional role of bacterial phylotypes in complex communities. Nature Microbiology. 3, pp.767-772.

  DW. Rivett, ML. Jones, J. Ramoneda, SB. Mombrikotb, E. Ransome, et al. T. Bell. (2018). Elevated success of multispecies bacterial invasions impacts community composition during ecological succession. Ecology Letters. 21(4), pp.516-524.

  ML. Jones, J. Ramoneda, DW. Rivett, T. Bell (2017). Biotic resistance shapes the influence of propagule pressure on invasion success in bacterial communities. Ecology. 98(7), pp.1743-1749.

  DW. Rivett, AK. Lilley, GJ. Connett, MP. Carroll, JP. Legg, et al. KD. Bruce. (2017). Contributions of Composition and Interactions to Bacterial Respiration Are Reliant on the Phylogenetic Similarity of the Measured Community. Microbial Ecology. 74(3), pp.757-760.

  A. Jousset, C. Bienhold, A. Chatzinotas, L. Gallien, A. Gobet, et al. V. Kurm, K. Küsel, MC. Rillig, DW. Rivett, JF. Salles, MGA. van der Heijden, NH. Youssef, X. Zhang, Z. Wei, WHG. Hol. (2017). Where less may be more: how the rare biosphere pulls ecosystems strings. The ISME Journal. 11(4), pp.853-862.

  DW. Rivett, T. Scheuerl, CT. Culbert, SB. Mombrikotb, E. Johnstone, et al. TG. Barraclough, T. Bell. (2016). Resource-dependent attenuation of species interactions during bacterial succession. The ISME Journal. 10(9), pp.2259-2268.

  M. Slater, DW. Rivett, L. Williams, M. Martin, T. Harrison, et al. I. Sayers, KD. Bruce, D. Shaw. (2014). The impact of azithromycin therapy on the airway microbiota in asthma. Thorax. 69(7), pp.673-674.

  GB. Rogers, NMM. Zain, KD. Bruce, LD. Burr, AC. Chen, et al. DW. Rivett, MA. McGuckin, DJ. Serisier. (2014). A novel microbiota stratification system predicts future exacerbations in bronchiectasis. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 11(4), pp.496-503.

  J. Kozlowska, DW. Rivett, LS. Vermeer, MP. Carroll, KD. Bruce, et al. AJ. Mason, GB. Rogers. (2013). A relationship between Pseudomonal growth behaviour and cystic fibrosis patient lung function identified in a metabolomic investigation. Metabolomics. 9(6), pp.1262-1273.

  T. Marrs, KD. Bruce, K. Logan, DW. Rivett, MR. Perkin, et al. G. Lack, C. Flohr. (2013). Is there an association between microbial exposure and food allergy? A systematic review. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 24(4), pp.311-320.e8.

  ES. Fernandes, L. Liang, S-J. Smillie, F. Kaiser, R. Purcell, et al. DW. Rivett, S. Alam, S. Howat, H. Collins, SJ. Thompson, JE. Keeble, Y. Riffo-Vasquez, KD. Bruce, SD. Brain. (2012). TRPV1 deletion enhances local inflammation and accelerates the onset of systemic inflammatory response syndrome. J Immunol. 188(11), pp.5741-5751.

Invited roundtable discussions

Workshops

UK Climate Resilience Programme: Peatland Resilience (University of Manchester) 2019

The Rare Biosphere (Institute of Diversity, Leipzig) 2015

Invited talks

Institute of Environmental Biology Symposium (Utrecht University) 2017

Conference organisation

Molecular Microbial Ecology Group meeting (Imperial College) 2015

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

I have reviewed mansucripts for the following journals:

• Nature Communications
• Molecular Biology and Evolution
• Functional Ecology
• Annale Zoologici Fennici
• Ecology Letters
• FEMS Microbiology Letters
• Oikos
• Aquatic Microbial Ecology
• Ecology
• ISME J.
• Proceedings of the Royal Society – B

Grants

Pending

Royal Society Research Grant. Project title: Elucidating biochemical mechanisms by which conjugative plasmids confer resistance to bacteriophages (PI)

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant title: Photocatalytic and anaerobic digestion symbiosis to enhance biogas production (CoI)

Active

Microbiology Society Harry Smith Summer Vacation Studentship title: Co-occurance of plasmids and bacteriophage in urban aquatic environments. (CoI)

Society for Applied Microbiology Small Project Research Grant  title: Impact of seawater flooding on microbial community structure and function in terrestrial soils. (PI)

Closed

Manchester Metropolitan University Research Accelerator Grant. Project title: Adaptation of bacteria, and spread of antimicrobial resistance genes, across an urbanisation gradient through conjugative plasmid transfer. (PI)

Society for General Microbiology Harry Smith Summer Vacation Studentship. Project title: Characterisation of host range and fitness costs of environmentally isolated mercury resistant plasmids (VS15/34). (PI)

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

Wellcome Trust

Membership of professional associations

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Accredited by Imperial College London)

Member of the Biochemical Society

Member of the Royal Society of Biology

Member of the Society for Applied Microbiology

Member of the Microbiology Society