We study the causes, diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases associated with human, veterinary and agricultural pathogens.
Research areas
- Development of rapid diagnostics
- Genomics and transcriptomics of bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens
- Vaccine design and evaluation
- Discovery of novel antimicrobials
- Molecular pathogenesis of infectious diseases
- Environmental microbiology
- Pathogen evolution
- Uncovering antimicrobial resistance determinants
Diseases we research
- Antimicrobial-resistant infections (including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia pseudomallei, coli, and Haemophilus influenzae)
- Beta-haemolytic streptococcal infections
- Chlamydial Infections
- Gut and urinary tract infection
- Hospital-acquired infections
- Mosquito-transmitted infections (including dengue, and Ross River and Malaria)
- Viral infections (including SARS-CoV-2, Hendra and Nipah viruses)
Collaborations
The group also collaborates with key international networks and federations for microbial systematic and bacterial preservation for biotechnological exploitation and advancement.
Key researchers and research areas
Dr Martina Jelocnik
Lecturer in Microbiology | Member, Centre for Bioinnovation | School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Veterinary microbiology
- Molecular microbiology and epidemiology
- Molecular epidemiology and comparative genomics of chlamydial species infecting human, livestock and wildlife hosts
- Development of molecular diagnostic tests
- Investigating zoonotic potential of chlamydiae
Dr David McMillan
Associate Professor in Microbiology | Theme Leader, Applied Microbiology
- Pathogenesis and prevention of Streptococcus pyogenes infections
- Discovery of novel antibiotics
- Hospital and Health acquired infections
Dr Derek Sarovich
Senior Research Fellow, Advance Queensland | Centre for Bioinnovation
- Bioinformatics
- Antibiotic resistance
- Diagnostics
- Microbiology
- Next-generation sequencing
Dr Nicole Masters
Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching | Associate Professor in Bioscience | School of Health | Member, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Water microbiology
- Environmental microbiology
- Biomedical science communication
Associate Professor Erin Price
UniSC Senior Research Fellow | Theme Leader, Human and Animal Health and Disease, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Microbial (meta) genomics and (meta) transcriptomics
- Respiratory infectious diseases (cystic fibrosis, chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease, COVID-19, bronchiectasis)
- Microbiology
- Real-time PCR diagnostics
- Antibiotic resistance
- Bacterial pathogens
Associate Professor Joanne Macdonald
Lead, Science | Associate Professor, Molecular Engineering | Deputy Director, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Molecular engineering
- Molecular computing and automata
- Diagnostic technology
- Virology and epidemiology
- Biochemistry and drug development
- Materials science and engineering
- Biomedical and Health science
- Water and environment
Associate Professor Mohammad Katouli
Associate Professor, Microbial Ecology | Member, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Molecular pathogenesis of septicaemic and uropathogenic E. coli and the host response to infection
- Interaction of microbial biotherapeutic with the human gut epithelium and the immune response.
- Inhibitory effect of probiotics on bacterial translocation
- Prevalence and persistence of antibiotic resistance genes in hospital, sewage and surface waters
- Microbial source tracking and the impact of faecal pollution of surface waters on human health
- Population structure of gut E. coli and their role in causing urinary tract infection
Professor Peter Timms
Deputy Director, Centre for Bioinnovation; Professor of Microbiology
- Chlamydia
- Genomics
- Vaccine developments
- Diagnostics
- Molecular pathogenesis