Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Dr Kelly Thornber

Dr Kelly Thornber

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

 K.Thornber@exeter.ac.uk

 Environment and Sustainability Institute 

 

Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

My research is interdisciplinary and solutions-focused, using systems thinking, engagement and science communication approaches to apply biosciences research to real-world issues.  I work with a wide range of external partners from the public, private and social sectors, focusing on:

  • Reducing environmental levels of pharmaceutical pollution from human healthcare, by considering this issue from a systems perspective. This work aims to understand the multitude of factors contributing to the release of pharmaceutical waste along the healthcare pharmaceutical life cycle, in order to identify effective solutions.
  • Addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in particular finding ways to reduce or mitigate the impacts of environmental antimicrobial pollution or carriage of resistant bacteria.
  • Developing more sustainable aquaculture (fish and shrimp farming) practices, both in the UK and globally.  This is largely through seeking to improve biosecurity and reduce the need for chemical usage (including antibiotics).

I am a Co-Director of the new Pharma Pollution Hub.  This is a new non-profit, independent think tank dedicated to finding solutions to reduce the environmental impacts of medicines used in UK healthcare.  We are using a systems thinking approach to:

  1. Define the problem.  We are raising awareness of the environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals used in healthcare, and outlining the social, economic and human health risks of not taking action.
  2. Mobilise the research community to accelerate the change process.  We are developing a Research for Change Agenda, to focus the expertise and resources of the academic community on answering partner-led questions that support our transition to a sustainable pharmaceutical society.
  3. Collectively identify pragmatic solutions.  We are working with thought leaders from across the public health, pharmaceutical, healthcare and environmental sectors, to co-design an actionable roadmap for change.

Qualifications

2003 - 2006 DPhil Biochemistry, Balliol College, University of Oxford

2000 - 2003 BSc(hons) Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry, University of Nottingham

Career

2023 - present Co-Director of Pharma Pollution Hub

2019 - present Research Fellow in Sustainable Development, University of Exeter

2017 - 2019 Daphne Jackson Research Fellow (funded by BBSRC), University of Exeter

2011 - 2017 Freelance Science Writer and Owner of Scientific Scripts (science communications business)

2008 - 2010 Scientific Administrator, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

2007 - 2008 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

Links

Research group links

Back to top

Research

Research interests

My research is interdisciplinary and solutions-focused, using systems thinking, engagement and science communication approaches to apply biosciences research to real-world issues.  I work with a wide range of external partners from the public, private and social sectors, focusing on:

  • Reducing environmental levels of pharmaceutical pollution from human healthcare, by considering this issue from a systems perspective. This work aims to understand the multitude of factors contributing to the release of pharmaceutical waste along the healthcare pharmaceutical life cycle, in order to identify effective solutions.
  • Addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in particular finding ways to reduce or mitigate the impacts of environmental antimicrobial pollution or carriage of resistant bacteria.
  • Developing more sustainable aquaculture (fish and shrimp farming) practices, both in the UK and globally.  This is largely through seeking to improve biosecurity and reduce the need for chemical usage (including antibiotics).

Research projects

2023-2024 Establishing the Pharma Pollution Hub.  Jointly funded by the University of Exeter Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and Open Innovation Collaboration Fund, as well as an MRC Impact Accelerator Award.

2022-2023 Towards sustainable pharmaceutical usage in healthcare and food production: understanding information ecosystems.  Funded by the Wellcome Trust's Translational Research Exchange at Exeter.  This funding is to consolidate and develop engaged research projects focused on reducing pharmaceutical usage and pollution.

2021-2022 Towards environmentally sustainable healthcare in Cornwall: an engagement approach to reducing pharmaceutical pollution. Funded by the University of Exeter's Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives Fund through the Environment and Sustainability Insititute.  This seed project aims to bring together different stakeholders involved in the issue of healthcare-associated pharmaceutical pollution in Cornwall, to discuss the current situation and feasible solutions across the pharmaceutical life cycle, from manufacturing, procurement and prescription, to waste disposal and waste water treatment. 

2020-2021 Evaluating antimicrobial resistance risk in Bangladesh aquaculture.  Funded by DEFRA.

2020-2021 Promoting prudent pharmaceutical usage in Bangladesh aquaculture.  Funded by a GCRF Global Research Translation Award. This project is focused around engaging with stakeholders in the aquaculture pharmaceutical value chain, to gain a better understanding of the drivers of pharmaceutical misuse in order to develop interventions to promote more prudent usage.

2020 - 2022 Improving hatchery biosecurity for a sustainable shrimp industry in Bangladesh.  Funded by GCRF/BBSRC/NERC. This multidisciplinary project seeks to engage with the hatchery sector in the Bangladesh shrimp industry to improve biosecurity, thereby reducing the risk of disease, environmental impact and the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

2019 - 2020 Building a University-Wide Antimicrobial Resistance Research Community.  Funded by University of Exeter Provost Fund.

2018 - 2019 Supporting sustainable shrimp aquaculture in Bangladesh by raising awareness of the impacts of antibiotic use amongst farmers.  Funded by GCRF/EPSRC. This public engagement project was aimed at developing an animation on antimicrobial resistance in Bangladesh aquaculture, and delivering this to Bangladesh aquaculture farmers to encourage more prudent antimicrobial usage.

2018 - 2019 Environmental impacts of Bangladesh shrimp aquaculture: a multidimensional study to address local issues with global impact.  Funded by GW4 Seed Award.

2017 - 2019 Establishing factors that influence changes in the abundance and diversity of antimicrobial resistance genes in Asian aquaculture.  Interdisciplinary post-doctoral research fellowship that investigated the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance genes in aquaculture ponds in Bangladesh.

Back to top

Publications

Journal articles

Bell AG, Thornber K, Chaput DL, Hasan NA, Mehedi Alam M, Haque MM, Cable J, Temperton B, Tyler CR (2023). Metagenomic assessment of the diversity and ubiquity of antimicrobial resistance genes in Bangladeshi aquaculture ponds. Aquaculture Reports, 29, 101462-101462.
Thornber K, Bashar A, Ahmed MS, Bell A, Trew J, Hasan M, Hasan NA, Alam MM, Chaput DL, Haque MM, et al (2022). Antimicrobial Resistance in Aquaculture Environments: Unravelling the Complexity and Connectivity of the Underlying Societal Drivers. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(21), 14891-14903.
Thornber K, Adshead F, Balayannis A, Brazier R, Brown R, Comber S, Court C, Davidson I, Depledge M, Farmer C, et al (2022). First, do no harm: time for a systems approach to address the problem of health-care-derived pharmaceutical pollution. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(12), e935-e937.
Thornber K, Kirchhelle C (2022). Hardwiring antimicrobial resistance mitigation into global policy. JAC Antimicrob Resist, 4(4). Abstract.  Author URL.
Thornber K, Pitchforth E (2021). Communicating antimicrobial resistance: the need to go beyond human health. JAC-antimicrobial resistance, 3(3).
Thornber K, Verner-Jeffreys D, Hinchliffe S, Rahman MM, Bass D, Tyler CR (2020). Evaluating antimicrobial resistance in the global shrimp industry. Reviews in Aquaculture, 12(2), 966-986. Abstract.
Thornber K, Huso D, Rahman MM, Biswas H, Rahman MH, Brum E, Tyler CR (2019). Raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance in rural aquaculture practice in Bangladesh through digital communications: a pilot study. Glob Health Action, 12(sup1). Abstract.  Author URL.
Colomba A, Giuriato S, Dejean E, Thornber K, Delsol G, Tronchère H, Meggetto F, Payrastre B, Gaits-Iacovoni F (2011). Inhibition of Rac controls NPM-ALK-dependent lymphoma development and dissemination. Blood Cancer J, 1(6). Abstract.  Author URL.
Thornber K, Colomba A, Ceccato L, Delsol G, Payrastre B, Gaits-Iacovoni F (2009). Reactive oxygen species and lipoxygenases regulate the oncogenicity of NPM-ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphomas. Oncogene, 28(29), 2690-2696. Abstract.  Author URL.
Pears CJ, Thornber K, Auger JM, Hughes CE, Grygielska B, Protty MB, Pearce AC, Watson SP (2008). Differential roles of the PKC novel isoforms, PKCdelta and PKCepsilon, in mouse and human platelets. PLoS One, 3(11). Abstract.  Author URL.
Thornber K, McCarty OJT, Watson SP, Pears CJ (2006). Distinct but critical roles for integrin alphaIIbbeta3 in platelet lamellipodia formation on fibrinogen, collagen-related peptide and thrombin. FEBS J, 273(22), 5032-5043. Abstract.  Author URL.

Back to top

External Engagement and Impact

December 2023: Online panel event: How could social prescribing support sustainable pharmaceutical usage in Cornwall?

November 2023: Release of think tank report: Integrating pharmaceutical pollution into healthcare decision-making

October 2023: Led a pop-up walkie talkie activity at Futures Festival of Discovery, Falmouth, UK

October 2023: Launch of Pharma Pollution Hub webpages.

July 2023: Release of digital training tools to improve biosecurity in Bangladesh shrimp hatcheries.

April 2023: Published an article Pharmaceutical pollution – the blue healthcare revolution in Health Europa, calling for healthcare strategies to incorporate pharmaceutical pollution alongside carbon mitigation.

Nov 2022: Attended event at Evidence Week in UK Parliament to ask Members what evidence would be needed to create a mandate on pharmaceutical pollution release into the environment.

Mar 2022: Release of digital brochure for project "Promoting prudent pharmaceutical usage in Bangladesh aquaculture"

Oct 2021: Wrote Case Study on AMR in the Environment for the Society for Applied Microbiology.

Nov 2021: Curated Researching Resistance, a photography exhibition on how different disciplines approach research into antimicrobial resistance.

Nov 2020: Wrote Case Study on AMR in Aquaculture, for the Microbiology Society’s “A Sustainable Future” project

Aug 2020 – Jul 2021: Hosted creative practitioner Simon Ryder, through an Arts and Culture Creative Fellowship

Oct 2019 – Jul 2020: Attended Engaged Researchers Academy, run by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement

May 2019: Release of animation on “Reducing inappropriate usage in Bangladesh Aquaculture”, with accompanying social media campaign aimed at nation-wide distribution to aquaculture farmers in Bangladesh.

May 2019: Winner of the 2019 University of Exeter Research Images Competition, “Collaboration” category

May 2019: Finalist in the UKRI-funded “Speak Up for Food Security” science communication competition

Oct 2018: Organised and ran a workshop, entitled: “Sustainable aquaculture and antibiotic use in Bangladesh - a pollution problem”, with attendees from the UK and Bangladesh.

Feb 2018: Received Royal Society Partnership Award.  This funding was in collaboration with a local primary school to run a project on teaching children about data analysis.

Ongoing: Regularly run science outreach workshops for key stage 1 and 2 children at local primary schools.

Back to top

Edit Profile