Our team
The Australian Centre for Genomic Epidemiological Microbiology (AusGEM) brings together a multidisciplinary team of leading research scientists in Australia with expertise in microbiology, epidemiology and bioinformatics.AusGEM Lead NSW DPI
Director of Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute
AusGEM Co-Leads
Professor Garry Myers
Director, Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection, UTS
Professor Garry Myers is the Director of the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection (AIMI, formerly the iThree Institute) at the University of Technology Sydney.
Distinguished Professor Steven Djordjevic
Professor of Infectious Disease, Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection, UTS
Professor Steven Djordjevic is Professor of Infectious Disease and Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection (AIMI, formerly the iThree Institute) at the University of Technology Sydney.
AUSGEM Chief Investigators
AusGEM Researchers, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Dalong Hu
Dr Dalong Hu was awarded his Ph.D. in the field of bioinformatics at the University of Sydney in 2019 and started his postdoctoral career at the University of New South Wales in the field of epidemiology from 2019 to 2020. In 2021, he moved to National University of Singapore as a research fellow discovering a pre-emptive epidemiology approach to detect potential AMR pathogens from marine environments. His highlighted works include revealing the origin of the 7th cholera pandemic and prognostic factors in elderly COVID-19 patients. From 2024, he joined AIMI UTS as a bioinformatics engineer working on the development of a pipeline for mRNA vaccine and medicine design.
Dr Maria Rezcallah
Dr Maria Rezcallah was awarded her PhD at the University of Technology Sydney in 2024. Based at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, her PhD focused on optimising proteomics methods for the detection of site-specific phosphorylation of an anti-inflammatory protein in the context of COPD. Now, Maria holds a postdoctoral position at the Australian Institute of Microbiology and Infection focused on generating targets for mRNA vaccines.
Dr Pauline Coulon
As a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection (UTS), she is focusing on generating targets for mRNA vaccines. She completed her 2017 PhD within Prof Eric Deziel at the Armand-Frappier Institute in Canada, studying the Hmq system in the Burkholderia cepacia complex. Later, she joined Dr. Nichollas Scott’s team at the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, shifting her focus to understand the impact of protein O-glycosylation on quorum sensing in Burkholderia cenocepacia. Then, Pauline seized the opportunity to lead her side project on Burkholderia ambifaria phase variation with Prof Tim Stinear, a passion cultivated during my PhD, aiming to become an independent researcher. She is now using omics and in-vitro models to study Burkholderia phase variation.
Dr Piklu Roy Chowdhury
Dr Piklu Roy Chowdhury (nee: Piklu Bhattacharya) is a senior research associate at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection (AIMI). Expert in both clinical and molecular microbiology, she tackles complicated problems in public health epidemiology and the emergence of various drug-resistant pathogens using multi-omics approaches. Her research is primarily aimed at generating a comprehensive understanding of infection mechanisms and host responses, with the overarching objective of developing diagnostic and preventative tools.
Has published extensively on the role and consequences of lateral gene transfer on the evolution of pathogen genomes; investigation of factors that influence host-pathogen interactions, both synergistic and antagonistic; and the role of bacterial secretion systems in pathogenesis.