About me
About me
Australian Society for Microbiology, Australian Society for Antimicrobials, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Adelaide Protein Group, American Society for Microbiology, Member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee.
My research focuses on antimicrobial resistance. ‘Superbugs’ are costing the medical and veterinary industry billions of dollars a year and antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most pressing health problems. According to the WHO we are fast approaching a post-antibiotic era where small injuries and minor infections will once again be fatal. Work in my laboratory is aimed at finding novel ways of treating infectious disease by characterising bacterial membrane proteins that are involved in drug resistance and/or virulence and on developing drugs that act on these targets. We are currently working on drug efflux pumps, iron transporters and cell division proteins in pathogenic bacteria. Most of our work... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Turning antimicrobial resistance in residential aged care inside-out from the patient to facility level, MRFF - Targeted Call for Research - Antimicrobial Resistance, 26/06/2018 - 31/12/2023
Reversing antibiotic resistance with efflux pump inhibitors, NHMRC - Project Grant, 01/01/2018 - 31/12/2021
Improving safety of vegetable produce through on‐farm sanitation, using Electrolysed Oxidising (EO) Water - VG15068, Hort Innovation, 01/06/2017 - 31/05/2020
Research Infrastructure Fund (RIF) Grant 2016 Round 2 - Biofilm Testing Facility, Adelaide Integrated Bioscience Laboratories, 28/11/2016 - 31/12/2017
Investigation of new anti-bacterials from Australian medicinal plants, James N Kirby Foundation, 01/07/2014 - 30/09/2015
We run an antimicrobial screening facility where we screen natural and synthetic compounds for antimicrobial activity, antibiofilm activity and the reversal of resistance.
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
Year | Output |
---|---|
2015 |
Open access
183
166
2
|
2014 |
Open access
70
67
4
|
Year | Output |
---|---|
2020 |
2
|
2013 |
|
2008 |
6
|
Year | Output |
---|---|
2023 |
2
|
2023 |
1
5
|
2023 |
1
|
2022 |
1
1
|
2022 |
Open access
3
|
2022 |
Open access
2
3
4
|
2022 |
Open access
2
2
1
|
2022 |
Open access
1
1
4
|
2022 |
Open access
1
|
2022 |
Open access
|
2021 |
Open access
8
7
1
|
2021 |
Open access
1
77
|
2021 |
Open access
6
5
|
2021 |
9
5
1
|
2021 |
5
9
1
|
2021 |
Open access
1
6
|
2021 |
Open access
7
7
1
|
2021 |
12
8
2
|
2021 |
Open access
7
5
1
|
2021 |
Open access
7
6
|
2021 |
Open access
17
11
1
|
2021 |
Open access
4
4
1
|
2021 |
Open access
30
23
7
|
2021 |
12
12
|
2020 |
Open access
44
35
3
|
2020 |
Open access
10
9
2
|
2020 |
Open access
23
22
|
2020 |
4
5
|
2020 |
8
8
2
|
2020 |
Open access
11
11
4
|
2020 |
10
9
1
|
2019 |
1
|
2019 |
Open access
10
9
|
2019 |
Open access
17
15
4
|
2019 |
Open access
12
12
2
|
2019 |
Open access
16
15
1
|
2019 |
Open access
42
42
3
|
2018 |
24
22
1
|
2018 |
26
25
1
|
2018 |
Open access
28
21
1
|
2018 |
19
19
|
2018 |
Open access
19
16
1
|
2018 |
Open access
20
21
4
|
2018 |
30
29
|
2017 |
111
101
38
|
2017 |
26
24
|
2017 |
Open access
24
19
2
|
2017 |
17
15
|
2017 |
37
32
|
2017 |
Open access
33
31
1
|
2017 |
Open access
83
65
1
|
2017 |
Open access
29
26
|
2017 |
9
10
3
|
2016 |
Open access
9
8
3
|
2016 |
Open access
22
20
3
|
2016 |
81
73
|
2015 |
Open access
183
166
2
|
2014 |
Open access
411
389
10
|
2014 |
Open access
70
67
4
|
2014 |
17
17
|
2012 |
Open access
24
24
|
2010 |
Open access
39
37
|
2009 |
Open access
148
143
|
2009 |
Open access
33
|
2008 |
41
39
|
Research
My research focuses on antimicrobial resistance. ‘Superbugs’ are costing the medical and veterinary industry billions of dollars a year and antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most pressing health problems. According to the WHO we are fast approaching a post-antibiotic era where small injuries and minor infections will once again be fatal. Work in my laboratory is aimed at finding novel ways of treating infectious disease by characterising bacterial membrane proteins that are involved in drug resistance and/or virulence and on developing drugs that act on these targets. We are currently working on drug efflux pumps, iron transporters and cell division proteins in pathogenic bacteria. Most of our work focusses on the Gram-negative pathogen P. aeruginosa. This pathogen is associated with a range of life-threatening nosocomial infections and is the main cause of mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis. P. aeruginosa infections are hard to treat since this organism displays resistance against multiple classes of antimicrobials. Central to this bacterium’s high intrinsic drug resistance is the expression of drug efflux pumps and its ability to form antibiotic-tolerant biofilms.
External engagement & recognition
Organisation | Country |
---|---|
Advanced Veterinary Therapeutics | AUSTRALIA |
Ardabil University of Medical Sciences | IRAN |
Baylor College of Medicine | UNITED STATES |
Burnet Institute | AUSTRALIA |
CRC Care | AUSTRALIA |
Deakin University | AUSTRALIA |
Ecas4 Australia | AUSTRALIA |
ECAS4 Australia | AUSTRALIA |
Ecas4 Australia Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Ecas4 Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute | AUSTRALIA |
Flinders University | AUSTRALIA |
Ghent University | BELGIUM |
Goethe University Frankfurt | GERMANY |
Harvard University | UNITED STATES |
Ithree Institute | AUSTRALIA |
Liaocheng University | CHINA |
Luoda Pharma | AUSTRALIA |
Luoda Pharma Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Macquarie University | AUSTRALIA |
Microbial Screening Technologies Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Micromyx | UNITED STATES |
Monash University | AUSTRALIA |
Murdoch University | AUSTRALIA |
Neoculi Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Neoculi Pty. Ltd. | AUSTRALIA |
Northern Technical University | IRAQ |
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile | CHILE |
Qingdao University | CHINA |
Queen Elizabeth Hospital | AUSTRALIA |
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries | AUSTRALIA |
ReaLi Tide Biological Technology | CHINA |
ReaLi Tide Biological Technology (Weihai) Co. Ltd | CHINA |
Sao Paulo State University | BRAZIL |
Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention | CHINA |
Shandong University | CHINA |
South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) | AUSTRALIA |
South East Vets | UNITED STATES |
Technical University of Denmark | DENMARK |
Universidade Sao Francisco | BRAZIL |
Université Paris Cité | FRANCE |
University of Adelaide | AUSTRALIA |
University of Cagliari | ITALY |
University of Cambridge | UNITED KINGDOM |
University of Copenhagen | DENMARK |
University of Durham | UNITED KINGDOM |
University of Newcastle | AUSTRALIA |
University of Oxford | UNITED KINGDOM |
University of Queensland | AUSTRALIA |
University of San Francisco | UNITED STATES |
University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
University of Sydney | AUSTRALIA |
University of Technology Sydney | AUSTRALIA |
University of Virginia | UNITED STATES |
Vietnam National University of Agriculture | VIET NAM |
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research | AUSTRALIA |
Zaozhuang University | CHINA |
External engagement & recognition
Engagement/recognition | Year |
---|---|
Editorial Board Member ('Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy')Frontiers in Microbiology |
2017 |
Guest Editor for a special issueEssays in Biochemistry |
2017 |
MemberThe Australian Society for Microbiology |
2017 |
MemberAustralian Society for Antimicrobials |
2017 |
MemberAustralian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) |
2017 |
MemberAdelaide Protein Group, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) |
2017 |
MemberAmerican Society for Microbiology |
2017 |
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
Thesis title | Student status |
---|---|
109420 - Limiting the risk for bacterial antimicrobial resistance: providing insight into the potential role of polypharmacy in antimicrobial resistance development | Current |
Antimicrobial resistance profiles and mechanisms of resistance in bacteria isolated from healthcare settings. | Current |
Characterisation and potential new treatments of colistin resistant Chryseobacterium spp.isolated from healthcare facilities | Current |
Combatting antimicrobial resistance through the development of responsible antimicrobial formulations with a reduced risk of causing resistance to clinically useful antibiotics | Current |
Preventing chronic infection in Cystic Fibrosis patients with a repurposed drug that inhibits antibiotic efflux pumps | Current |
Risk factors in the development and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in residential age care facilities | Current |
Understanding resistance in critically important pathogens as a basis for antimicrobial drug discovery | Current |
A combined in silico and microbiological approach for the identification of novel efflux pump inhibitors against AcrAB-TolC | Completed |
Characterisation of antimicrobial resistance in hospital wastewater populations with in-depth analysis of Klebsiella oxytoca | Completed |
Characterisation of antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli from clinical and environmental settings | Completed |
Inhibitors of efflux to reverse resistance in Escherichia coli | Completed |
Investigation of the activity of a caspofungin-grafted surface coating on attaching pathogenic fungi | Completed |
Reversing antimicrobial resistance with inhibitors of drug efflux pumps | Completed |
Reversing multi-drug resistance with efflux pump inhibitors | Completed |
Targeting bacterial cellular division via FtsZ as an approach in the development of new antimicrobial agents | Completed |