Our people
Professor Garry Myers, Director, AIMI and Theme Leader: Biology of intracellular microbes
Professor Garry Myers’ research has two components; firstly, he applies genome-scale tools and single cell approaches to decipher bacterial pathogens, publishing the original genomes of numerous bacterial pathogens, including vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecalis, the agent of sheep footrot Dichelobacter nodosus, the oral pathogen Treponema denticola, the agent of food poisoning and toxigenic gangrene Clostridium perfringens, and numerous chlamydial genomes in both humans and animals. His group was the first to develop and apply dual RNA-Seq, focusing on the obligate intracellular bacteria Chlamydia and including novel single cell approaches. These have been widely applied to other bacterial pathogens. Secondly, he is leading the development and application of mRNA vaccine and RNA therapeutics to both animals and humans via the recently funded Vaccine & RNA Design Centre within the NSW Tech Central precinct.
Distinguished Professor Steve Djordjevic, Theme Leader: Microbial genomics and proteomics
Professor Djordjevic’s research generates and interrogates genomic and proteomics data to mitigate against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), understand pathogen evolution and to identify and characterise novel antigens for vaccine development.
Associate Professor Diane McDougald, Theme Leader: Microbial ecology and evolution
Diane has made significant contributions to the fields of Vibrio biology, bacterial adaptation to stress and mechanisms of molecular control of these responses, cell-to-cell communication, biofilm formation and interactions of bacteria with higher eukaryotes.
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects:
- Catheterassociated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI)
- Interactions of prokaryotes and eukaryotes using several model systems to investigate the impact of predation by protozoa on microbial communities and how evolution of grazing defences drives the evolution of pathogenicity in the environment
Associate Professor Iain Duggin, Theme Leader: Microbial morphology and development and Deputy Director, AIMI
Iain’s research aims to understand the regulation of microbial cell morphology and division, and use this knowledge and technology to develop ways to address the growing problems of climate change and infectious disease (antimicrobial resistance).
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects. Please follow the links to read some of the published discoveries (all links open an external site).
- What proteins carry out cell division in archaea? [in Haloferax volcanii, a key model organism.] And how do they interact with the cell envelope to bring about division?
- What proteins work with the archaeal cytoskeleton to switch cell morphotypes? And how?
- How can we utilize archaea and their components for protein and vaccine engineering?
- What proteins regulate UPEC cell filamentation in the bladder epithelium?
- How do UPEC colonies exist within host bladder cells?
- What UPEC and host cell genes respond during UTI? Can they help diagnose UTI?
Associate Professor Louise Cole, Director, Microbial Imaging Facility
Louise Cole is a plant and fungal cell biologist that has over three decades of microscopy experience.
Louise is an expert in a wide-range of imaging modalities including transmitted light, fluorescence, laser microdissection, optical tweezers, confocal and multiphoton, light-sheet, transmission electron and cryo-electron microscopy. In addition, she has extensive experience in specimen preparation of plants, animals and microbes for both light and electron microscopy.
: Please follow the links to read some of the published discoveries (all links open an external site).Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects
- Developing a pipeline for tissue clearing, imaging and 3D-visualisation for thick tissue slices and whole organs of healthy and diseased tissue.
- Dissecting mechanisms that regulate inflammation and granuloma formation in Tuberculosisinfected tissue (with A/Prof. Bernadette Saunders).
- Identification of novel disease mechanisms for their biomarker or therapeutic target potential and for treatment of pre-eclampsia or cardiovascular disease (with Dr Lana McClements).
- Optimising tissue-clearing and microscopy methods to investigate cell-cell and cell-stromal interactions in tissues and 3D models of pre-eclampsia (with Dr Lana McClements).
- Clearing rat spinal cord and brain tissue to investigate role of inflammatory cells in relation to neural injury and lesion formation (with Dr Cathy Gorrie).
- Investigating the biological effects of nanoparticles on the heart (with Dr Kristine McGrath)
- How do intracellular bacterial colonies interact with host bladder cells? (with A/Prof Iain Duggin).
Dr Mathieu Fourment, Theme Leader: Computational microbial biology
Mathieu is a data scientist interested in understanding the evolutionary processes that drive the evolution of pathogens, and develops phylogenetic algorithms and software to investigate natural selection, evolutionary rates, and the geographic dispersal of viruses such as influenza virus and HIV. Mathieu’s research looks at ways to better manage global issues such as antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease outbreaks.
Dr Mehrad Hamidian, Theme Leader: Emerging and Opportunistic Microbial Pathogens
Mehrad’s research focuses on studying antibiotic resistance and genomic evolution of the opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii and is particularly interested in studying clonality as well as the role of mobile genetic elements. He applies a wide range of molecular microbiology and bioinformatics approaches including the use of whole genome sequencing to study A. baumannii.
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects:
- Identifying the genes involved in replication and transfer of novel plasmid classes in Acinetobacter.
- Evolution of antibiotic resistance in globally disseminated multi-drug resistant clones of A.baumannii.
Dr Bill Söderström, Theme Leader: Imaging Microbes in Human Health, Disease & Death
Bill focuses on understanding various aspects of microbial life and development, often at a single-molecule level. Relying on advanced fluorescence microscopy and microfluidics as main tools he investigates microbial behaviours at a molecular level as this holds the key to identifying new targets for therapeutics (e.g., antibiotics and vaccines) to combat the sharp increase in multidrug resistant bacteria. Together with UTS Forensics, Bill also investigates how the microbiome can be used to study human decomposition for forensic investigation applications.
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects:
- Single-molecule and high-resolution imaging of bacteria during infection of human cells
- Behaviour of multispecies bacterial communities during in urinary tract infections
- Molecular analysis of the bacterial cell division machinery
- New approaches to time since death investigations using time dependent changes in the human microbiome
Associate Professor Cindy Gunwan
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects:
- Understanding bacterial resistance in the form of biofilm growth
- Identifying genes that are responsible for the resistance characteristics
- Understanding the role of cell-to-cell communication in biofilm resistance
Dr Yan Liao, Chancellor’s Research Fellow, Lecturer
Yan’s research focuses on studying the fundamental cell biology of Archaea and their practical applications for human and environmental health. She applies a wide range of genetics, microscopy imaging, multi-omics, and bioinformatics approaches to study the model species of Archaea.
Supervision opportunities are available for the following projects:
- Understand the molecular mechanisms of cell division and structural dynamics in haloarchaea
- Isolate and characterize new archaeal species in high-salt environments
- Evaluate the anti-cancer effect of haloarchaea
- Develop haloarchaea as cell factories for the biosynthesis of marketable products