Heema Vyas

Heema Vyas

Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing

Division of Research and Innovation

I am passionate about addressing biofilms, microbial communities encased in a protective extracellular matrix. Unlike planktonic cells, biofilms are notoriously difficult to treat due to their heightened antimicrobial tolerance. Additionally, biofilms contribute significantly to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a global crisis exacerbated by the overuse of antimicrobials. Pervasive across all systems, biofilms impact health, food safety, industry, and the environment, presenting key opportunities for translational research in their prevention, detection, and treatment.

To tackle this complex issue, I am researching plasma-activated water (PAW), which utilises plasma, the fourth state of matter, to alter the physicochemical properties of water, generating potent antimicrobial reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. As a Postdoctoral researcher (2021–2024 at the University of Sydney, 2024–present at the University of Adelaide), I investigate PAW as a promising antibiofilm alternative to conventional antimicrobials, which are increasingly ineffective due to AMR.

I have demonstrated PAW's efficacy against biofilms linked to chronic infections, surface contamination, foodborne diseases, and water contamination. Additionally, I have advanced our understanding of PAW by revealing its mechanisms, including rapid disruption of microbial membranes, accumulation of lethal reactive species within biofilms, and, for the first time, harnessing transcriptomics to identify key stress-response genes and biological pathways altered in biofilm cells after PAW exposure. These findings highlight PAW's potential to target multiple microbial components, reduce resistance, and offer a novel solution to biofilms and AMR.

Overall, my research is innovative in its approach, bridging microbiology, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and plasma physics to address biofilms. Furthermore, it holds the potential to combat the growing challenge of AMR by providing novel strategies and solutions to this critical global health issue.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Postdoctoral Researcher University of Adelaide
    2021 - 2024 Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Sydney

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2024 Award Asia-Pacific Biofilm Conference Travel Award South China University of Technology China $2000
    2024 Award Australian Society for Microbiology National Conference Brisbane, Science Communication Award Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $200
    2024 Award Whiteley Travel Award Whiteley Pty Ltd Australia $3000
    2024 Award Australian Society for Microbiology NSW/ACT State Branch Leadership Award Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $1000
    2024 Award Australian Society for Microbiology Biofilm Special Interest Group Travel Award Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $1000
    2024 Award Australian Society for Microbiology NSW/ACT Branch ‘Early Career Researcher Equity Diversity Inclusivity Award’ Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $1000
    2023 Award Australian Society for Microbiology National Conference Perth, ‘Best Early Career Researcher Poster Award’ Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $200
    2023 Award Postdoctoral Award Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $1000
    2022 Award ECR Australian Microbial Ecology Award Australian Society for Microbiology Australia $1200
    2014 Distinction Deans Merit List University of Wollongong Australia -
    2010 Award Student Engineering Award University of Wollongong Australia $500
    2008 Award Bronze Award Duke of Edinburgh Australia -

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2015 - 2021 University of Wollongong Australia Doctor of Philosophy

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Vyas, H. K. N., Hoque, M. M., Xia, B., Alam, D., Cullen, P. J., Rice, S. A., & Mai-Prochnow, A. (2025). Transcriptional signatures associated with the survival of Escherichia coli biofilm during treatment with plasma-activated water. Biofilm, 9, 100266.
    DOI
    2024 Weissman, J. L., Chappell, C. R., de Oliveira, B. F. R., Evans, N., Fagre, A. C., Forsythe, D., . . . Wan, Y. (2024). Queer- and trans-inclusive faculty hiring—A call for change. PLoS Biology, 22(11), e3002919.
    DOI Scopus1
    2024 Egorova, A., Xia, B., Vyas, H. K. N., Armendáriz-Ontiveros, M. M., Lin, Y. C., Garcia-Garcia, A., . . . Mai-Prochnow, A. (2024). Iron nanoparticle coating and plasma-activated water cleaning as a biofouling removal method for reverse osmosis membranes suitable for desalination. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 59, 105043.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 Gregor, R., Johnston, J., Coe, L. S. Y., Evans, N., Forsythe, D., Jones, R., . . . Zablocki, O. (2023). Building a queer- and trans-inclusive microbiology conference. mSystems, 8(5), e0043323.
    DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC4
    2023 Li, Z., Crago, M., Schofield, T., Zeng, H., Vyas, H. K. N., Müllner, M., . . . Talebian, S. (2023). Synthesis and Evaluation of Functionalized Polyurethanes for pH-Responsive Delivery of Compounds in Chronic Wounds. Gels, 9(8), 19 pages.
    DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC2
    2023 Xia, B., Vyas, H. K. N., Zhou, R., Zhang, T., Hong, J., Rothwell, J. G., . . . Mai-Prochnow, A. (2023). The importance of superoxide anion for Escherichia coli biofilm removal using plasma-activated water. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 11(3), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus20
    2023 Rothwell, J. G., Hong, J., Morrison, S. J., Nilesh Vyas, H. K., Xia, B., Mai-Prochnow, A., . . . Carter, D. A. (2023). An Effective Sanitizer for Fresh Produce Production: In Situ Plasma-Activated Water Treatment Inactivates Pathogenic Bacteria and Maintains the Quality of Cucurbit Fruit. Microbiology Spectrum, 11(4), 16 pages.
    DOI Scopus8 Europe PMC1
    2023 Vyas, H. K. N., Xia, B., Alam, D., Gracie, N. P., Rothwell, J. G., Rice, S. A., . . . Mai-Prochnow, A. (2023). Plasma activated water as a pre-treatment strategy in the context of biofilm-infected chronic wounds. Biofilm, 6, 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus5
    2022 Vyas, H. K. N., Xia, B., & Mai-Prochnow, A. (2022). Clinically relevant in vitro biofilm models: A need to mimic and recapitulate the host environment. Biofilm, 4, 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus37 Europe PMC27
    2021 Vyas, H. K. N., McArthur, J. D., & Sanderson-Smith, M. L. (2021). An optimised GAS-pharyngeal cell biofilm model. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC5
    2021 Williams, J. G., Ly, D., Geraghty, N. J., McArthur, J. D., Vyas, H. K. N., Gorman, J., . . . Sanderson-Smith, M. L. (2021). Streptococcus pyogenes M1T1 Variants Induce an Inflammatory Neutrophil Phenotype Including Activation of Inflammatory Caspases. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 10, 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus8 Europe PMC6
    2020 Vyas, H. K. N., Indraratna, A. D., Everest-Dass, A., Packer, N. H., De Oliveira, D. M. P., Ranson, M., . . . Sanderson-Smith, M. L. (2020). Assessing the role of pharyngeal cell surface glycans in group a streptococcus biofilm formation. Antibiotics, 9(11), 1-22.
    DOI Scopus8 Europe PMC7
    2019 Vyas, H. K. N., Proctor, E. J., McArthur, J., Gorman, J., & Sanderson-Smith, M. (2019). Current understanding of group a streptococcal biofilms. Current Drug Targets, 20(9), 982-993.
    DOI Scopus15 Europe PMC12
    2018 Silva, D. M., Vyas, H. K. N., Sanderson-Smith, M. L., & Sencadas, V. (2018). Development and optimization of ciprofloxacin-loaded gelatin microparticles by single-step spray-drying technique. Powder Technology, 330, 201-209.
    DOI Scopus13

  • Preprint
    Year Citation
    2024 Vyas, H. K. N., Hoque, M., Xia, B., Alam, D., Cullen, P., Rice, S., & Mai-Prochnow, A. (2024). Transcriptional Signatures Associated with the Survival of<i>Escherichia coli</i>Biofilm During Treatment with Plasma-Activated Water.
    DOI
    2024 Xia, B., Vyas, H. K. N., Rice, S., Newsome, T., Cullen, P., & Mai-Prochnow, A. (2024). Antimicrobial mechanism of<i>in-situ</i>plasma activated water treatment of pathogenic<i>Escherichia coli</i>and<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>biofilms.
    DOI
    2023 Rothwell, J., Hong, J., Morrison, S., Vyas, H. K. N., Xia, B., Mai-Prochnow, A., . . . Carter, D. (2023). An effective sanitizer for fresh produce production:<i>In situ</i>plasma activated water treatment inactivates pathogenic bacteria and maintains the quality of cucurbit fruit.
    DOI
    2023 Vyas, H., Xia, B., Alam, D., Gracie, N., Rothwell, J., Rice, S., . . . Mai-Prochnow, A. (2023). Plasma Activated Water as a Pre-Treatment Strategy in the Context of Biofilm-Infected Chronic Wounds.
    DOI
    2020 Williams, J., Ly, D., Geraghty, N., McArthur, J., Vyas, H., Gorman, J., . . . Sanderson-Smith, M. (2020). <i>Streptococcus pyogenes</i>M1T1 variants activate caspase-1 and induce an inflammatory neutrophil phenotype.
    DOI
    2020 Vyas, H., McArthur, J., & Sanderson-Smith, M. (2020). An Optimised GAS-pharyngeal cell biofilm model.
    DOI

Drug Discovery Initiative

‘Optimising Antifungal Therapies with Protein-Powered Synergy’

Role: CIB

$50,000

2023-25

ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology

‘Microbe-Made Materials’

Role: Co-Lead, CIB

$25,000

2023-24

ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology

Optimising Synthetic Microbial Communities for Sustainable Bio-Industrial Processes

Role: Co-Lead, CIB

$25,000 
(Ranking in the Top 3 of 12 applications)

2023-24

UOW SMAH Travel Grant

‘Eurobiofilms’

Poster Presentation

Role: CIA

$3,000

2018

Australian Federal Government

Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship

Role: CIA

$90,472

($25,849/year)

2015-18

  • University Of Wollongong Demonstrator: 2018 SMAH001 (Introduction to University Science), 2016-18 BIOL103 (Molecules, Cells, and Organisms) and BIOL213 (Principles of Biochemistry).

    Roles: Assisting in lab pracs, marking pre-labs/lab books/assignments, attend/contribute to subject meetings to provide feedback.

  • University Of Sydney Guest lecturer: 2023 MICR3021 (Microbes in Health and Disease).

    Roles: Creating lecture content, preparing, and marking main/supplementary exam questions.

  • Committee Memberships
    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2024 - ongoing Member Australian Society for Microbiology SA/NT State Branch Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2024 - ongoing Founder Australian Society for Microbiology Biofilm Special Interest Group Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2024 - ongoing Co-Founder Australian Society for Microbiology LGBTQIA+ Microbiology Network Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2024 - 2025 Member American Society for Microbiology Early Career Symposium Committee American Society for Microbiology United States
    2022 - 2024 Co-Founder Australian Society for Microbiology NSW/ACT State Branch LGBTQIA+ Microbiology Network Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2021 - 2024 Convener Australian Society for Microbiology NSW/ACT State Branch Biofilm Special Interest Group Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2021 - 2024 Member Australian Society for Microbiology NSW/ACT State Branch Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
    2021 - 2024 Member Joint Academic Microbiology Seminars Sydney Joint Academic Microbiology Symposium Australia
    2019 - 2021 Member Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute Equity Diversity Inclusivity University of Wollongong Australia
    2013 - 2016 Co-Founder Biotechnology Network University of Wollongong Australia

  • Memberships
    Date Role Membership Country
    2023 - ongoing Member American Society for Microbiology United States
    2021 - ongoing Member European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases United Kingdom
    2018 - ongoing Member Joint Academic Microbiology Seminars Australia
    2017 - ongoing Member Australian Society for Microbiology Australia
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