I am a professor in microbiology and biochemistry in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) at The University of Queensland (UQ), a current Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology and a former Australian Research Fellow (Australian Research Council). I have > 20 years experience in bacterial physiology and the investigation of enzyme function and metabolic pathways in a wide variety of bacteria, and a particular focus of my work is bacterial sulfur metabolism, both in energy generation, detoxification of reactive sulfur species and repair of damage to sulfur-containing biomolecules.

Over the past ~10 years I have developed an extensive program of research on the physiology and pathogenesis of the human respiratory pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. My laboratory is investigating the role of H. influenzae metabolism for host-pathogen interactions, as well as molecular defences against antimicrobials produced by the human immune system, where oxidation of sulfur-containing biomolecules is a common type of damage.

I am regularly invited to present my work at international conferences, and have extensive expertise in the supervision of research students where I have graduated 10 PhD, 28 Masters and 29 Honours students. I am a Specialty Editor in Chief in ‘Microbial Physiology and Metabolism’ for Frontiers in Microbiology, and have a strong interest in open research and open access policies. I am a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology (ASM) National Scientific affairs committee and the Chair of the SCMB Metals in Biology group.