Dr Deborah Hoyle
Lecturer
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
The Roslin Institute
Easter Bush Campus
Midlothian - City
- Post code
- EH25 9RG
Background
I graduated from the University of Cambridge with BA (Hons) Pathology in 1991 and Vet MB, MRCVS in 1994. I spent a year at the University of Oxford studying the epidemiology of human infectious disease, before working for a short period in mixed clinical practice. In 1996, I moved to the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh, to study for a doctorate, investigating the early immune response to Fasciola hepatica infection in cattle (2000). Following this, I joined Professor Mark Woolhouse’s group, initially on a quarantine surveillance project, examining the risk of zoonotic disease importation by pets into the UK and then as a post-doctoral researcher studying the molecular epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant commensal and pathogenic Escherichia coli in beef cattle. From 2005-2015, I took a ten year career break to raise a family. I returned to research in 2015 with a Wellcome Trust Career Re-entry Fellowship investigating the epidemiology of Shiga toxin positive non-O157 E.coli on farms throughout the UK.
My current research focuses on the epidemiology of veterinary and zoonotic pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, emerging disease and One Health.
Qualifications
2000: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Edinburgh, "Bovine immune responses to the common liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, during the early stages of infection"
1995: Master of Arts, University of Cambridge (MA)
1994: Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge (Vet MB)
1991: Bachelor of Arts (Pathology), University of Cambridge (BA Hons Class I)
Professional Qualifications
1994: Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, MRCVS
Responsibilities & affiliations
Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS)
Postgraduate teaching
- Applied Epidemiology and Surveillance for Conservation Medicine (VESC11038) course; Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme
- Course Organiser
- Course week tutor: Introduction
- Course week tutor: Reservoirs of disease
- Course week tutor: Genomic epidemiology
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Introduction to One Health (VESC11033) course; One Health MSc Programme
- Course week tutor: Emerging infectious diseases
- Course week tutor: Antimicrobial resistance
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Antimicrobial resistance: A One Health Perspective (VESC11273) course; One Health MSc Programme
- Course Organiser
- Course week tutor: AMR in a One Health world
- Course week tutor: Understanding drivers of AMR
- Course week tutor: AMR interventions and innovation
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
Doctoral students
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Co-supervisor: EastBio Doctoral SRUC student Larissa Melo Chicoski (2024-28)
- Thesis title: Genomic surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in cattle, Great Britain
Master's students' dissertation projects
- 2024-25 – Project title: Understanding and addressing African Swine Fever in small-scale farms in Slavonia, Croatia: A socio-cultural and geohistorical analysis in a post-outbreak context (One Health MSc Programme)
- 2024-25 – Project title: Assessing the causes of death of cetaceans in the Canary Archipielago in the last 20 years (Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme)
- 2025-26 – Project title: Biodiversity or Backyard Biohazard: Are Human-Managed Urban Garden Water Sources an Overlooked Hotspot for Disease Transmission? (Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme)
Past PhD students supervised
Master's students' dissertation projects
- 2019 – Project title: Prevalence and spatial distribution of blaCTX-M genes and class 1, 2 and 3 integrons in commensal bacteria from Scottish cattle (Erasmus Infectious Disease and One Health MSc)
- 2021-23 – Project title: Deer as a reservoir for the transmission of STEC in the wildlife-domestic interface of Uttarakhand, India (Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme)
- 2022-23 – Project title: Investigating the exposure of free-ranging red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Great Britain to Brucella canis (Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme)
- 2022-24 – Project title: Is there evidence of culturable multi-drug resistant organisms in the rivers and surrounding coastal waters of Christchurch, NZ (One Health MSc Programme)
- 2023-24 – Project title: A systematic literature review of antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella found in animal products and livestock in Africa (One Health MSc Programme)
- 2023-24 – Project title: Presence of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella in faecal samples of wild birds living in an urban environment (Conservation Medicine MVetSci Programme)
Visiting research students
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2025 (6-month placement): Emilie Dewever - Masters dissertation project & Veterinary Thesis (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon & Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon)
- Project title: Impact of High-Dose Zinc Supplementation on Antibiotic Resistance in Commensal Escherichia coli Strains in Weaned Piglets
Research summary
Molecular epidemiology of zoonotic and emerging pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, disease surveillance and control, One Health.
Current research interests
I am a qualified veterinarian and researcher, with research interests in the One Health field, focussing on the epidemiology of veterinary pathogens and zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and emerging disease. My current projects focus on the molecular epidemiology of foodborne zoonotic pathogens Shiga-toxin non-O157 Escherichia coli in cattle, the role of mobile genetic elements in the dissemination and retention of AMR genes in livestock, and the impact of withdrawing therapeutic levels of zinc oxide supplementation during piglet weaning on stakeholder antibiotic use and on-farm AMR gene carriage. As a veterinarian, I have further interests in the epidemiology and control of endemic disease in livestock and the impact of disease on animal welfare.Current project grants
03/2024 - 02/2027: "Intended and unintended consequences of the ZnO ban from pig diets on antimicrobial resistance, post-weaning diarrhoea and the microbiome"; Hoyle D (PI), Stevens M, Muwonge A, Oyama L, Kyriazakis I, Creevey C, Anjum M, Abu Oun M, Beechener E; BBSRC (£1.3 M)
Past project grants
09/2022 - 12/2023: "Management of post-weaning diarrhoea and the implications for AMR in response to the upcoming ban on zinc supplementation in pigs"; Hoyle D (PI), Anjum M, Ekiri A, Stevens M, Kyriazakis I, Beechener E, Wheelhouse N; BBSRC (£252 k)
03/2015 - 05/2022: "Prevalence and diversity of Shiga-toxin and non-O157 Escherichia coli carriage in cattle"; Hoyle D (PI), Wellcome Trust Career Re-entry Fellowship (£518 k)