Google Scholar profile

Primary Research Interest

Non-photosynthetic cyanobacteria and marsupial microbiomes

About Me

While studying for my undergraduate degrees at Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, I took a summer semester paper in Environmental Microbiology, which included a trip to the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences to look at microbes that live in hot springs. This sparked my interest in extremophiles. I then moved to Hamilton to study at the University of Waikato under the supervision of Prof. Craig Cary at the Thermophile Research Unit, identifying the microbial diversity of thermophilic communities in hot mineral soils of Tramway Ridge, Mount Erebus, Antarctica. After finishing my MSc, I moved to Australia and worked at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville for 4 years as a Lab Technician for Dr. Nicole Webster, looking at microbial communities in sponges on the GBR, and Dr. Lone Hoj, in aquaculture.

I then moved to Brisbane as I was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award to undertake a PhD at the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (ACE), UQ, with Prof. Phil Hugenholtz and Prof. Gene Tyson. My PhD thesis was on non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria and I completed my PhD in 2015. I stayed on at ACE as a post-doc and in 2018 I was awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), which I started in July 2019. My project aims to identify additional members from the non-photosynthetic cyanobacterial lineages and characterise their functional capabilities.

Research Focus and Collaborations

My main focus is on exploring the evolution and ecology of non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria using metagenomics, isolation and microscopy techniques. Other projects that I’m currently working on include re-organising the phylogenetic framework for Cyanobacteria by sequencing type strains (in collaboration with over 40 scientists); surveying Australian marsupial microbiomes; and understanding how rhizosphere microbial communities change with the addition of biochar.

Funded Projects

NHMRC Ideas Grant (2022-2024):  "Dual-function ribonucleases: unexpected agents of antibiotic resistance”

ARC Discovery Project (2021-2023): “Bringing Archaeal biodiversity to life from native Australian herbivores”

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2019-2022): “Exploring the evolution and ecology of non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria”