The Microbial Super-Resolution Microscopy Lab
Welcome!
We are a diverse group of researchers in the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection (AIMI) at UTS that are trying to figure out how bacteria go about living their lives in various contexts.
To do this we primarily use various high-resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques in combination with nanobody labeling-, genetics-, nanoengineering- and microfluidics approaches.
We believe that understanding bacteria and their behaviour will hold the key to identify new targets for therapeutics. ​We are primarily using the Gram-negative bacterium Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) as a model system to look at the dynamics and components involved in cell division, shape shifting and filamentation.
We also use various other pathogenic bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and Enterococcus faecalis to investigate their behaviour in model urinary tract infection systems.
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Have a look at the research page for further reading about some of our current projects.
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RECENT LAB NEWS:
2024
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- Feb/March:
Welcome to Diana, Ciara and Mona, new Honours/Masters students in the lab. Very cool and highly diverse projects in Forensic
Microbiology, Infection Biology and High-resolution Imaging to be done.
And we welcome Lachy back for his PhD, he will become an expert in UTI related bacterial morphology changes.
2023
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- Nov:
Congrats to Matt for winning the best talk prize at the MIF imaging symposium.
And congrats to Alaska for winning a best image prize at the same symposium.
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- Sep/Oct:
Welcome to new postdocs Drs. Pauline Coulon and Arthika Manoharan in the lab!
Great having you on board for the infection projects.
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- July:
Bill was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship! Let's go! More exciting UTI work to come. UTS News here.
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- April:
We say ‘Hejdå’ to Emma, who is going back to Sweden today after finishing up her MSc thesis work, which is now published
in Current Genetics. Thank you for spending some time with us!
We also say ‘à plus tard’ to Ariana, who is leaving for Paris to start lab work with the Ingersoll lab at Institut Cochin
as a part of her PhD program at UTS.
- February:
Congratulations to Charlotte and Emma for your respective pre-prints on multi-species urinary tract infection models and
nanobody tagged FtsZ imaged by single-molecule PALM in live bacteria.
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Welcome to our new Honours student Lachy!
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- January:
Welcome back Ariana, who will do her PhD work with us! Great having you back
2022
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-December:
Congratulations Ariana and Charlotte for your First class Honours marks. Fantastic achievement!
And for your first publication, co-first name authors in PLOS Pathogens. Woop woop!
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- August:
Welcome to visiting Master's student Emma! She will perform lab work in our lab as a part of her thesis in Engineering Physics
(KTH, Sweden). We are very happy to have you with us!
- June:
The labs latest paper, on Infection-Related Filamentation is now on-line at Nature Communications. Congrats all involved!
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- June:
Warm welcome to Dr. Alaska Pokhrel, the lab's first ever postdoc!
Dr. Pokhrel is joining us from Prof. Paulsen's group at Macquarie University, where she completed her PhD in 2022.
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- February:
Welcome to Honours students Ariana and Charlotte, great to have you onboard!
Big congratulations on your AIMI Excellence in Research Honours Scholarships. Well deserved!
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- January:
Welcome to the first PhD student of the lab, former Honours student Matthew!
...and congrats to your PhD scholarship! It's going to be great to follow you on your journey towards your PhD.
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2021
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- December 24th(!):
Bill (as lead CI), together with Prof. Liz Harry, was awarded a Discovery Project grant from the Australian Research Council.
Merry Christmas lab!
- December:
First pre-print of the lab is out. DamX dynamics during filamentation in an infection model system.
Dynamic localisation of DamX regulates bacterial filamentation and division during UPEC dispersal from host cells
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- December:
Congratulations Matthew to your First class Honours!
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- November 9th:
10 years since Bill's first paper was accepted! Have a look here:
Sequential Closure of the Cytoplasm and Then the Periplasm during Cell Division in Escherichia coli​
- ~ July - October:
Oh my gosh, Sydeny lockdowns AGAIN...
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- February:
Welcome to first lab students. Honours Students Matthew and Johnathan (deferred to 2022).
Great having you here!
...And congrats on your iThree Excellence in Microbiology (iEiM) Honours Scholarships!
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2020
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- November:
First paper from the lab published.
"An OregonGreen488-labelled d-amino acid for visualizing peptidoglycan by super-resolution STED nanoscopy"
Collaboration with Stockholm Uni. making a STED optimised FDAA.
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- April:
Funding for a Nikon N-STORM microscope secured. Yey!
- ~ March - June:
Sydeny lockdowns, not much going on in the lab.
- January:
The lab started January 2020.
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