Dr Erin Connelly
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow & Assistant Professor
Email: Erin.Connelly@warwick.ac.uk
Phone: 024 765 24326
Office: B011
Research Clusters
Microbiology & Infectious Disease
Vacancies and Opportunities
Research Interests
My research area focuses on interdisciplinary collaborative effort between the sciences and humanities to explore questions of ethnopharmacology and the antimicrobial efficacy of ingredients from historical and traditional medical sources. Medieval manuscripts contain numerous remedies for the treatment of microbial infections, and these often involve complex preparations of several ingredients. In particular, my interest involves quantitative analyses of historical recipes in extant medical books, and empirical tests of the antimicrobial activity of whole remedies inspired by historical combinations. The application of network analysis tools to medieval medical texts is a new way to identify potentially effective ingredient combinations from an antimicrobial perspective. This is a novel route to developing new antimicrobial therapeutics in a time of increasing antimicrobial resistance.
Research: Technical Summary
Datamining Medieval Medical Texts for Modern Medicines
Dr Erin Connelly's Fellowship is an international, interdisciplinary project exploring questions of ethnopharmacology and the antimicrobial efficacy of ingredients from historical and traditional medical sources.
Medieval manuscripts contain numerous remedies for the treatment of microbial infections, and these often involve complex preparations of several ingredients.
Analysing historical recipes in extant medical books
The research involves quantitative analyses of historical recipes in surviving medical books, and empirical tests of the antimicrobial activity of remedies inspired by historical combinations. Using network analysis tools to analyse medieval medical texts is a new way to identify potentially effective ingredient combinations. This is a novel route to developing new antimicrobial therapeutics in a time of increasing antimicrobial resistance.
Prior to her Fellowship, Dr Connelly worked on a number of collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. These included digitisation and creation of metadata for around 400 medieval manuscripts (Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis), analysis of stains in medieval manuscripts using multi-spectral imaging (Labeculae vivae), Datamining the Lylye of Medicynes, and the APEX supported project Nettles and Networks.