Bacterial genomics, gut microbiome

Raymond graduated with a BSc in Nutritional and Health Sciences from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan under which programme he was professionally trained as a clinical dietician. He then moved to the UK and obtained an MSc at the University of Reading in Nutritional and Food Sciences where he was involved in investigating the protective effects of bioactive compounds anthocyanins on human immune cell lines. In January 2015 Raymond moved to Norwich in 2015 and started his PhD.

Raymond's PhD research concentrated on understanding the genomics and pathogenicity of Clostridium perfringens in relation to gastrointestinal diseases primarily in pre-term infants using genomic approach and pre-clinical models. Raymond obtained his PhD in early 2019 and subsequently started a Research Scientist position within the Hall lab at Quadram Institute, Norwich. He has been focused on understanding the probiotic role and impact of Bifidobacterium in early life (both pregnancy and infancy) using both bioinformatics and experimental approaches, at the same time working on understanding disease-causing mechanisms of gut pathogen Clostridium perfringens and antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus species in immuno-compromised patients, which represents his long-term research interest, prior to being appointed as a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.