University of New South Wales - BABS - Environmental and Health Microbiology

Environmental and Health Microbiology encompasses the study of viruses, archaea, bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa in various ecosystems ranging from distant planets to the lower bowel. The discipline requires the application of both traditional and modern technologies, including microscopy and molecular and computational biology. Providing the basic science behind biotechnology, staff have internationally recognised strengths in microbial communication, physiology and ecology, molecular evolution, gene transfer, microbial community analysis and biodiversity, adaptation to stress including environmental extremes, epidemiology, pathogenicity, parasitology, natural product discovery and design, astrobiology, geochemistry and symbiosis.

Faculty members manage scientific projects in both medical and general research that are funded from a variety of government and non-government bodies. In addition, we are active in the communication and commercialisation of our research discoveries. We are driven by the knowledge that our research is of benefit to human health and preservation of the planet we live on.

Facilities and Affiliations:
Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bioinnovation
The CRC for Environmental Biotechnology

Publications
A listing of publications for 2002

Student Research Seminars:
Session 2, 2004

Laboratories:
Extremophiles
Centre of Cyanobacteria and Astrobiology

Research Teams:

Team Leader	Research Projects
A/Prof Kevin Barrow	Chemistry and biosynthesis of microbial products Molecular genetics of polyketide synthesis in Streptomyces Use of NMR in microbial metabolism and stress responses New antifungal antibiotics
Prof Rick Cavicchioli Extremophiles Laboratory	Genome sequencing and development of in silico tools for genome analysis Isolation and taxonomy of novel oligotrophic and psychrophilic microorganisms Functional genomics in model oligotrophic marine bacteria Regulation of RNA helicases in low temperature environments Genome sequencing, proteomics and structural biology of psychrophilic archaea Biotechnology of thermally adapted proteins
A/Prof Mike Edwards	Molecular studies of anaerobic protozoan parasites, including: Trichomonas vaginalis (risk factor in the transmission of HIV) Trichomonas foetus (parasite of cattle) Giardia intestinalis (200-300 million cases of intestinal infection each year) Hexamita inflata (major problems in the fish-farming and shellfish industries) Research projects have the long term objective of understanding new approaches to chemotherapy.
A/Prof John Foster Bio/Polymers Research Group	Bioprocessing Biopolymer characterisation and applications Macromolecular design Biodegradation and biodeterioration
Prof Staffan Kjelleberg	Bacterial biofilm development and differentiation Quorum sensing and cell-cell signalling Bacterial stress adaptation Chemically mediated bacteria-higher organism associations in marine systems Molecular community analysis of marine living surfaces Quorum sensing blockers
Dr Ruiting Lan	Population genetics of pathogenic bacteria Molecular evolution of Shigella, Salmonella and Vibrio cholerae Evolutionary and comparative genomics Molecular epidemiology and typing of bacterial pathogens Bioinformatics
A/Prof George Mendz	Physiology and genetics of pathogenic bacteria of the genus Helicobacter Characterising potential therapeutic targets and designing novel antimicrobials The fine tuned physiology of microaerophilic gastric spirilla with respect to intracellular redox potential and oxidative stress
Prof Hazel Mitchell	Medical Microbiology The epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori The role of Helicobacter pylori in gastrointestinal disease Immune response to gastrointestinal infections The role of cytokine polymorphisms in disease The role of bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease
Prof Brett Neilan	Genetics and ecophysiology of non-ribosomal peptide synthesis Molecular biology and phylogeny of toxic cyanobacteria Evolution and diversity of stromatolite-associated prokaryotes Genetic exchange between microorganisms Adaptation to salt stress Alkaloid production by bacteria and algae
A/Prof Peter White	Viral replication Molecular detection and genotyping of microbes Hepatitis C virus Human enteric viruses, including Norovirus Development of aptamers to micro-organisms Molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance