Dr Lucy Brunton
BSc, MSc Vet. Epi., PhD
Lecturer in Molecular Epidemiology
Department: Pathobiology and Population Sciences
Campus: Hawkshead
Research Centres: Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health
Lucy is a lecturer in molecular epidemiology and part of the Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health group. She divides her time between epidemiology teaching and research. Her main interests are antimicrobial resistance and bovine tuberculosis.
Lucy obtained her degree in microbiology from the University of Leeds in 2006, where she then took up a BPEX sponsored PhD to investigate the effect of rearing environment on the incidence of zoonotic bacteria in pigs. After completing her PhD in 2010, Lucy joined the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (now APHA) as an epidemiological scientist where she conducted research in the areas of food-borne disease and antimicrobial resistance and led the production of a number of reports for EFSA. In 2014 Lucy was promoted to epidemiologist and expanded her research interests to bovine tuberculosis. She conducted research in to the factors associated with the spread of bovine TB in England and Wales, and was responsible for the production of bovine TB epidemiology and surveillance reports for Wales.
Lucy completed a Masters in veterinary epidemiology at the RVC in 2017. She joined the VEEPH group at the RVC in February 2017 to develop molecular epidemiological expertise in the areas of antimicrobial resistance and bovine tuberculosis.
Lucy is interested in the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial usage in food-producing animals. She is also interested in using interdisciplinary approaches to understand the complex epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis.
Brunton, L. A., Donnelly, C. A., O'Connor, H., Prosser, A., Ashfield, S., Ashton, A., Upton, P., Mitchell, A., Goodchild, A. V., Parry, J. E. & Downs, S. H. (2017) Assessing the effects of the first 2 years of industry-led badger culling in England on the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in 2013–2015. Ecology and Evolution 7(18): 7213-7230.
Brunton, L.A., Alexander, N., Wint, W., Ashton, A. & Broughan, J.M. (2016) Using geographically weighted regression to explore the spatially heterogeneous spread of bovine tuberculosis in England and Wales. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment 31: 339
Horton, R.A., Duncan, D., Randall, L.P., Chappell, S., Brunton, L.A., Warner, R., Coldham, N.G. & Teale, C.J. Longitudinal study of CTX-M ESBL-producing E. coli strains on a UK dairy farm (2016) Research in Veterinary Science 109: 107-113
Broughan, J.M., Maye, D., Carmody, P., Brunton, L., Ashton, A., Wint, W., Alexander, N., Naylor, R., Ward, K., Goodchild, A.V., Hinchliffe, S., Eglin, R., Upton, P., Nicholson, R. & Enticott, G. (2016) Farm characteristics and farmer perceptions associated with bovine tuberculosis incidents in areas of emerging endemic spread. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 129: 88-98
Enticott, G., Maye, D., Carmody, P., Naylor, R., Ward, K., Hinchliffe, S., Wint, W., Alexander, N., Eglin, R., Ashton, A., Upton, P., Nicholson, R., Goodchild, T., Brunton, L. & Broughan, J. (2015) Farming on the edge: farmer attitudes to bovine tuberculosis in newly endemic areas. Veterinary Record 177: 439
Brunton, L. A., Nicholson, R., Ashton, A., Alexander, N., Wint, W., Enticott, G., Ward, K., Broughan, J.M. & Goodchild, A. V. (2015) A novel approach to mapping and calculating the rate of spread of endemic bovine tuberculosis in England and Wales. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology 13: 41-50
Horton, R. A., L.P. Randall, L.P., Bailey-Horne, V., Heinrich, K., Sharman, M., Brunton, L.A., La Ragione, R.M, Jones, J.R. (2015). Degradation of cefquinome in spiked milk as a model for bioremediation of dairy farm waste milk containing cephalosporin residues. Journal of Applied Microbiology 118(4): 901-910
Brunton, L.A., Reeves, H.E., Snow, L.C., Jones, J.R. (2014). A longitudinal field trial assessing the impact of feeding waste milk containing antibiotic residues on the prevalence of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli in calves. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 117, 403-412.
Randall, L., Heinrich, K., Horton, R., Brunton, L., Sharman, M., Bailey-Horne, V., Sharma, M., McLaren, I., Coldham, N., Teale, C., Jones, J. (2014). Detection of antibiotic residues and association of cefquinome residues with the occurrence of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria in waste milk samples from dairy farms in England and Wales in 2011. Research in Veterinary Science 96, 15-24.
Brunton, L.A., Duncan, D., Coldham, N.G., Snow, L.C., Jones, J.R., (2012). A survey of antimicrobial usage on dairy farms and waste milk feeding practices in England and Wales. Veterinary Record 171, 296.
Lucy is currently involved with BVetMed undergraduate teaching on veterinary public health.
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AMFORA: Applying a One Health systems modelling approach to formulate strategies for mitigating the risk to human health of antibiotic resistance in Aquaculture
People: Lucy Brunton, Maria Garza Valles, Barbara Haesler, Ana Mateus, Javier Guitian
AMFORA is an RVC-led multidisciplinary project which aims to use a ‘systems-thinking’ approach to map aquaculture systems in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Egypt, and identify potential hotspots for the emergence and selection of resistance and human exposure to antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant organisms. This will enable the identification of potential drivers of ABU and interventions to reduce ABU.
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Antibiotic usage on dairy farms in GB: improving data capture and exploring drivers
People: Camilla Strang, Pablo Alarcon-Lopez, Jackie Cardwell, Lucy Brunton
This project seeks to facilitate the development of optimal antibiotic usage data capture mechanisms on dairy farms by understanding the drivers behind efficient data capture and their association with antibiotic usage and health and welfare. The findings from this project will be used to provide recommendations to help support the ongoing work in the development of data recording tools for the dairy industry.
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Typology of interventions to reduce antimicrobial use in aquaculture
People: Maria Garza Valles, Barbara Haesler, Lucy Brunton
This project aims to develop a typology of interventions to reduce antimicrobial use in aquaculture, based on data extracted through a review of AMR interventions across livestock production systems.