Executive

EXEC MEMBER PROFILES

Heather Hendrickson heather.hendrickson@canterbury.ac.nz
Heather is a Senior Lecturer of Microbiology in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. Heather completed her PhD in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 before beginning as a Human Frontier of Science Long Term Fellow in the Biochemistry Department of Oxford University. Heather’s research group has two primary components. They study important evolutionary transitions in microbiology such as the evolution of cell shape and the ecological drivers of bacterial virulence using a combination of experimental evolution, bacterial genomics, cell biology and genetics. Heather is also working on the discovery, fundamental biology and practical application of bacteriophages. Heather’s group works on bacteriophages that impact primary industries in New Zealand including those that infect Lactobacillus, Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium and Paenibacillus. You can find her on twitter as @DRHHNZ and her lab website is HendricksonLab.co.nz

Gavin Lear g.lear@auckland.ac.nz
Gavin is an Associate Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland. The Lear group explores the complex interactions among microbial communities and the varied environments that they inhabit. We investigate how microbial communities adapt to human influences such as pollution events and agricultural management, as well as to natural variability in environmental conditions. A key goal of our research is to use microbial responses to such events as a quantitative indicator of the impact of human activities on environments. We have a broad-range of interests in both pure and applied aspects of environmental microbiology and are keen to help motivated individuals investigate diverse research interests, including: (i) the role of microorganisms in maintaining environmental health and productivity, (ii) advanced molecular methods to assess microbial community diversity, function and distribution, (iii) microbial diversity and biogeography, and (iv) the use of microorganisms for the bioremediation of polluted environments. You can find Gavin's lab on line : https://gavinlear.wordpress.com/

Mike Taylor mw.taylor@auckland.ac.nz
Mike is an Associate Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland. Mike completed his PhD in marine microbiology at the University of New South Wales in 2004 before undertaking post-doctoral research at the University of Vienna. He began his faculty position at the University of Auckland in 2007, with his research focusing on interactions between animal (including human) hosts and their associated microbial communities. Mike’s human microbiome research encompasses both the gut (type 2 diabetes and autism spectrum disorder) and the airway (chronic sinus disease, paediatric lung disease). Other host organisms under study include marine sponges and the critically endangered kakapo. Understanding which microbes are associated with which hosts – and why – is central to his research. Mike is Co-Convenor of the New Zealand Microbial Ecology Consortium, and Board Member of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.

Helen Withers helen.withers@mpi.govt.nz
Helen is currently a Senior Advisor (Microbiology) in the Science Risk Assessment Team which is part of the Biosecurity Science, Food Science and Risk Assessment Directorate, Regulation and Assurance Branch at the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). Helen completed her undergraduate studies in food microbiology at the Department of Microbiology and Genetics at Massey University before heading to the UK. She gained her PhD in Molecular Biology at the Department of Genetics, Cambridge University, studying plasmid stability and the role of site specific recombination in that process. From there she moved to Uppsala University in Sweden, where she was a post doctoral researcher investigating the role of regulatory RNA in the control DNA replication. After 5 years in Sweden she returned to the UK to take up a Medical Research Council (MRC) Career Development Fellowship at Nottingham University to study bacterial communication (quorum sensing) and its impact on the control of the bacterial cell cycle, particularly DNA regulation. She returned to New Zealand in 2003 as a lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology at Auckland University; and after a few years moved to AgResearch at Ruakura and then on to the Hopkirk Research Centre in Palmerston North as a Senior Scientist. Here, Helen’s research focussed on food safety and in particular on shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and their association with cattle. In 2013, she moved to MPI and continues to support the food sector, particularly the meat industry.

Nick Heng Nicholas.Heng@otago.ac.nz
Nick is currently a senior lecturer in oral biology and oral health in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Otago. Graduating in 1998 with a PhD in (gut) microbiology from Otago, he moved up in the microbiological world by conducting post-doctoral research in rumen microbiology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, U.S.A., and then oral microbiology at the University of Otago School of Dentistry. Nick’s research focuses on microbial genomics, specialising in next-generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. His other research interests include the biology, and subsequent development, of antimicrobial proteins (bacteriocins) targeting pathogens of humans and other animals.

Saili Chalke saili.chalke@plantandfood.co.nz
Sailii Chalke is a Ph.D student in Food Technology at Massey University and Plant & Food Research. Her Ph.D. work is studying the Listeria monocytogenes biofilm in the seafood industry. She also works as a casual technician with the seafood technologies team at Plant & Food Research. Saili's work is focused mainly on food safety and food microbiology aspects but she also enjoys some bioinformatics.

Sara Burgess S.Burgess1@massey.ac.nz
Sara Burgess is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory (mEpiLab) at Massey University. Her main research focus is on understanding how antimicrobial resistant Enterobacteriaceae and their resistance determinants spread between humans, animals and the environment. She is a member of the ICSP sub-committee on the taxonomy of the Bacillaceae family as well as the NZ-China Dairy Quality and Safety Expert Steering Group. Previously Sara worked for the Fonterra Co-operative Group where her research focussed on understanding how biofilms formed within dairy manufacturing plants.

Kristi Biswas k.biswas@auckland.ac.nz
Kristi is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medicine at Auckland University. Kristi works at the intersection of clinical microbiology, immunology and microbial ecology. She has focussed on studying human-microbe interactions in the ear, nose and throat of diseased and healthy people. Kristi's earliest work largely focused on observational studies of microbial diversity. Currently, she seeks to understand the in situ function of these communities and the mechanisms underlying disease. To this end, she uses proteomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics and histological approaches, in addition to recent work in the laboratory with biofilm reactors and nasal epithelial cell cultures.

Manpreet Dhami DhamiM@landcareresearch.co.nz
Manpreet is a Researcher/Capability Leader (Molecular Ecology) at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. Her research is centered on the eco-evolutionary processes that shape microbial communities – using host-associated and environmental systems. Previously at Stanford University (2014-2017), she studied how competition and resources influence the nectar microbiome. She was awarded her PhD by the University of Auckland in 2013 researching the symbiotic relationship between the scale insect, a keystone species in New Zealand beech forest, and novel Bacteroidetes bacteria. Between 2012-2013, she worked as a Research Scientist for the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Stephen On stephen.on@lincoln.ac.nz
Stephen On is the Associate Professor of Food Microbiology, and Associate Dean of Research, at Lincoln University in New Zealand, where he is responsible for under- and postgraduate programmes in microbial food safety and biotechnology. Stephen has previously worked in Government research organisations in New Zealand, Denmark and the UK. Stephen’s research interests have been fuelled by a keen interest in microbial taxonomy, and thereby improved diagnostics (for identification and subtyping, using both phenotypic and molecular methods) for emerging (and emerged!) pathogens of humans (notably foodborne) and animals. These interests are now expanding to microbial aspects of production and spoilage of wine, with the aim of enhancing a vibrant $1.7 B industry. He is Chairman of the ICSP (International) sub-committee on the taxonomy of Campylobacter and related bacteria, and convened the biannual International conference on these organisms in Rotorua, New Zealand in 2015. He has contributed to various expert advisory groups at the request of the World Health Organisation, Ministry for Primary Industries and the World Bank-sponsored Global Food Safety Partnership. He has published over 140 papers thus far, and has received three awards* for his contributions to the field.

*2001: WH Pierce Memorial Prize from the UK Society of Applied Microbiology “for an outstanding contribution to bacteriology”.
2014: New Zealand Business Events Award presented by Rt Hon Minister Steven Joyce for securing the 18th International Workshop on Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organisms (CHRO 2015) for New Zealand.
2017: New Zealand Microbiological Society Distinguished Orator Award “in recognition of outstanding contributions to microbiology in New Zealand”.

Eddie Smolinski Eddie.Smolinski@fonterra.com
Eddie is a process microbiologist within the Fonterra Co-operative Group based at the South Island site Clandeboye. Microbiology career began as a Medical Scientist researching Community Heath disease within the Pilbara and Kimberly regions of Western Australian. Current focus aligned to process anomalies associated with facultative thermophiles and biofilm development.

Annie West annie.west@auckland.ac.nz
Annie is a Genomics Aotearoa Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with Dr Kim Handley at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland. Annie completed her PhD at the same institution under the supervision of Professor Mike Taylor on the microbiome in threatened species conservation. Her research on kākāpō and takahē revealed key information regarding the impact of conservation management on the gut microbiomes of both species that has important implications for future management practice (some of which have already been implemented). She now investigates strain heterogeneity and salt tolerance strategies of abundant bacteria, particularly Actinobacteria, across the Waiwera estuary as part of the Genomics Aotearoa (GA) Environmental Metagenomics project. As a GA postdoc, a key facet of Annie's research is to develop user-friendly bioinformatics pipelines for the assessment of strain heterogeneity in metagenomics data that are available to the wider community. You can find her on twitter as @anniegwest.

Executive Committee