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NZMS Distinguished Speakers
| 2001: Prof. Gerald Tannock (Otago University) |
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Gerald Tannock is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. After graduating from the University of Otago he spent two years as a Fogarty International Postdoctoral Fellow with Dwayne C. Savage at the University of Texas and the University of Illinois. He has been a member of the academic staff of the University of Otago since 1974, being awarded a personal Professorial Chair in 1996. Professor Tannock held a part-time position at the University of Alberta, Canada, from 2001 until 2005.
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Professor Tannock’s research concerns the communities of bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of animals. These communities are referred to as the gastrointestinal, or gut, microbiota. Major research projects include analysis of the gut microbiota of experimental animal models of inflammatory bowel diseases, the microbiology of inflammatory bowel diseases of humans, the impact of antimicrobial drugs on the composition and metabolic activity of bacteria resident in the gut of broiler chickens, and the use of a unique colony of Lactobacillus-free mice in investigating the molecular foundations of gut autochthony using lactobacilli as model bacteria. The impact of bifidobacterial species on the activation of human dendritic cells with respect to atopic diseases is also under investigation.
In addition to articles in journals, Professor Tannock has authored a monograph “Normal Microflora. An Introduction to the Microbes Inhabiting the Human Body” (1995) and has edited four multi-author texts (“Probiotics. A Critical Review”, 1999; “Medical Importance of the Normal Microflora”, 1999; “Probiotics and Prebiotics: Where Are We Going?”, 2002; “Probiotics and Prebiotics: Scientific Aspects”, 2005). He has been President of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (1996-1998), was inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the review journal “Current Issues in Intestinal Microbiology” (2000-2002), and has been a member of the Editorial Board of Microbial Ecology since 1992. He will become a member of the editorial board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology in 2006. Professor Tannock was awarded a Royal Society of New Zealand Silver Medal in 2000 for his contributions to Science and Technology, and was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2002.
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| 2002: Dr. Diana Martin (ESR, Porirua) |
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| 2003: Prof. Clive Ronson (Otago University) |
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| 2004: Prof. Hugh Morgan (Waikato University) |
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| 2005: Prof. John Tagg (Otago University) |
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John Tagg is Professor of Microbiology at Otago University, where he has worked on bacteriocin-like substances, mainly from streptococci, for over 30 years. In that time he has amassed some 140 publications, has acted as mentor to nearly 50 postgraduate students and has founded a biotechnology start-up company (BLIS Technologies Ltd.) based on his innovative research. |
Professor Tagg’s research focus has been the bacteriocins of streptococci and staphylococci; proteinaceous substances produced by bacteria with antimicrobial activity against other, generally closely related species. In addition to their antibacterial activities, Prof. Tagg’s research has revealed that many of these compounds also act as interspecies signalling molecules in the oral cavity, a site of unusually rich bacterial diversity, primarily populated by streptococci. More recently, his research has lead to the discovery of large, hitherto unrecognised, plasmids in the oral commensal Steptococcus salivarius, which contain multiple determinants for the biosynthesis of a variety of bacteriocins, indicating that horizontal gene transfer plays an important role in their distribution within the oral streptococci. In further studies, he has also shown that harmless oral commensals such as S. salivarius have a profound impact on the mucosal immunity of the host, indicating that these bacteria may act to protect the host from pathogenic infection. Prof. Tagg’s research has implications for oral ecology, human health and the development of novel anti-infectives and probiotics.
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| 2006: Prof. A. Richard (Dick) Bellamy (Auckland University) |
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A transcript of Prof. Bellamy's oratory has been published in NZ Bioscience Vol 16, Issue 3 and can be downloaded here.
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| 2007: Dr. John Young, Landcare Research |
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An abstract of the oration to be presented by Dr. Young is available here.
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