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 - 31/12/2022
Reversing antibiotic resistance with efflux pump inhibitors, NHMRC - Project Grant, 01/01/2018 - 31/12/2020
Improving safety of vegetable produce through on‐farm sanitation, using Electrolysed Oxidising (EO) Water - VG15068, HIA Horticulture Innovation Australia, 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 since 2008 is shown below. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
Year | Output |
---|---|
2015 |
Open access
76
71
1
|
2014 |
Open access
30
33
3
|
2009 |
123
|
Year | Output |
---|---|
2013 |
|
2008 |
|
Year | Output |
---|---|
2019 |
|
2019 |
1
1
|
2019 |
Open access
2
2
1
|
2019 |
1
1
|
2019 |
Open access
1
|
2019 |
Wang, Y, Alenzy, R, Song, D, Liu, X, Teng, Y, Mowla, R, Ma, Y, Polyak, SW, Venter, H & Ma, S 2019, 'Structural optimization of natural product nordihydroguaretic acid to discover novel analogues as AcrB inhibitors', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, in press, pp. 1-18. |
2018 |
6
7
1
|
2018 |
6
5
1
|
2018 |
Open access
3
2
1
|
2018 |
5
4
|
2018 |
Open access
7
5
1
|
2018 |
Open access
3
4
3
|
2018 |
5
5
|
2017 |
19
18
38
|
2017 |
12
11
|
2017 |
Open access
4
2
2
|
2017 |
4
5
|
2017 |
19
17
|
2017 |
Open access
10
11
2
|
2017 |
Open access
22
20
1
|
2017 |
Open access
8
6
|
2016 |
Open access
3
3
3
|
2016 |
Open access
9
7
3
|
2016 |
26
28
|
2016 |
3
3
3
|
2015 |
Open access
76
71
1
|
2014 |
Open access
238
228
10
|
2014 |
Open access
30
33
3
|
2014 |
9
9
|
2012 |
Open access
15
16
|
2010 |
30
28
|
2009 |
123
|
2009 |
Open access
27
|
2008 |
35
33
|
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 |
---|---|
Ardabil University of Medical Sciences | IRAN |
Baylor College of Medicine | UNITED STATES |
CRC Care | AUSTRALIA |
Deakin University | AUSTRALIA |
ECAS4 Australia | AUSTRALIA |
Ecas4 Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Flinders University | AUSTRALIA |
Ghent University | BELGIUM |
Goethe University Frankfurt | GERMANY |
Luoda Pharma Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Micromyx | UNITED STATES |
Monash University | AUSTRALIA |
Murdoch University | AUSTRALIA |
Neoculi Pty Ltd | AUSTRALIA |
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile | CHILE |
Qingdao University | CHINA |
Queen Elizabeth Hospital | AUSTRALIA |
ReaLi Tide Biological Technology | CHINA |
ReaLi Tide Biological Technology (Weihai) Co. Ltd | CHINA |
Sao Paulo State University | BRAZIL |
Shandong University | CHINA |
South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) | AUSTRALIA |
South East Vets | UNITED STATES |
University of Adelaide | AUSTRALIA |
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 South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
University of Sydney | AUSTRALIA |
Univesity of Science and Technology of China | 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 |
---|---|
A combined in silico and microbiological approach for the identification of efflux pump inhibitors from natural products. | Current |
Anti-Microbial activity of natural and synthetic compounds against multi-drug resistant microorganisms | Current |
Investigation of the activity of a caspofungin-grafted surface coating on attaching pathogenic fungi | Current |
Phenotypic screening and molecular characterization of Extended-Spectrum ß-Lactamase and Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and identify mechanism of resistance | Current |
Reversing multidrug resistance with efflux pump inhibitors | Current |
Risk factors in the development and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in residential age care facilities | Current |
The effect of hospital effluent on the antimicrobial resistance ecology of waste water. | Current |
Inhibitors of efflux to reverse resistance in Escherichia coli | Completed |