"The fellowship has allowed me to find new and more effective treatments that are benefiting patients."

Dr Ben Mullish, Speciality Registrar in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

The bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is among the most severe hospital infections. It infects the bowel and may cause diarrhoea and severe inflammation - and for the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, severe and repeated infections can kill.

C. difficile is usually treated with a course of antibiotics, but this can kill off ‘healthy’ gut bacteria, leaving vulnerable patients at greater risk of infection from harmful bugs. Antibiotics previously used against C. difficile no longer work so effectively, and there is a major need for new treatments for the condition. 

Ben has been using a procedure called faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) to rebalance patients’ healthy gut bacteria. This involves processing a sample of a donor’s faeces until all that remains is a watery fluid packed with microbes. This bacterial suspension can be given to sick patients via a tube through the mouth and into the stomach, via a colonoscopy or by swallowing multiple capsules, and often results in rapid health improvements.

Randomised trials have shown that this can be a much more effective treatment than conventional antibiotic therapy for many patients. 

During his fellowship, Ben helped establish the FMT programme at St Mary’s Hospital, one of only a handful of NHS centres in the UK that regularly carries out the procedure. The St Mary’s FMT service has now delivered over 50 transplants, making it one of the busiest in the country. 

“Being awarded a Research Fellowship has allowed me to carry out vital work in this area and find new and more effective treatments that are benefiting patients,” said Ben. “It has also allowed me to further develop in my clinical and research career.”

Inspired by Ben's research story? Find out how you can apply for a fellowship to support your own research project