The Birchenough lab forms part of the Mucin Biology Groups research cluster at the University of Gothenburg. Originally trained as a medical microbiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, George earned his doctorate at University College London (UCL) where he investigated the intestinal phase of neonatal meningitis-causing E. coli infections. A postdoctoral position at the University of Gothenburg drove a focus on the characterization of novel microbiota-mucus/GC interactions that has defined his ongoing research. His group works to develop and apply an array of tools to understand how GC-intrinsic defensive functions in the gut and other mucosal surfaces are regulated by exogenous and endogenous signaling mechanisms in health and early life and how those functions and regulatory circuits are compromised in infection, inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, with the ultimate aim of developing GC-targeted prophylactic or therapeutic interventions.