Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa
Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
- My Research
- Career
- Publications
- Grants and Funding
- Teaching
- Supervision
- Professional Activities
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Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and the Head of the Herbicide and Antimicrobial Innovation Laboratory at The University of Adelaide's Waite campus.
Dr Soares da Costa leads a research team dedicated to developing innovative strategies to mitigate the rise in herbicide and antimicrobial resistance that threatens the global agricultural and health industries. Dr Soares da Costa's team have applied their expertise in protein biochemistry, plant biology, chemistry and microbiology to make several breakthrough discoveries:
- Discovery of the first inhibitors of lysine biosynthesis with herbicidal activity. This discovery demonstrates that inhibition of lysine biosynthesis represents a novel herbicide mode of action. Towards novel herbicide modes of action by inhibiting lysine biosynthesis in plants | eLife (elifesciences.org)
- First report of a dual-target herbicidal compound, i.e., a compound that inhibits two targets simultaneously to impede the generation of resistance in weeds. Multi-target compounds allow us to progress the herbicide field beyond the ‘one target–one herbicide’ paradigm. A dual-target herbicidal inhibitor of lysine biosynthesis | eLife (elifesciences.org)
- Discovery that we can modify the structure of failed antibiotics and turn them into herbicides that are effective against weeds. This study highlights an innovative strategy to fast-track the development of herbicides. Repurposed inhibitor of bacterial dihydrodipicolinate reductase exhibits effective herbicidal activity | Communications Biology (nature.com)
- Determination of >30 protein crystal structures of unexplored herbicide and antibiotic targets. This has allowed the discovery of herbicidal and antimicrobial compounds with high potency and specificity. Shapeshifting bullvalene-linked vancomycin dimers as effective antibiotics against multidrug-resistant gram-positive bacteria | PNAS; Selective inhibition of Biotin Protein Ligase from Staphylococcus aureus* - Journal of Biological Chemistry (jbc.org)
Dr Soares da Costa has published >50 journal articles and has been awarded >$4M in competitive funding as sole or lead chief investigator, including an NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellowship (2015-2019), an ARC DECRA (2019-2022) and an ARC Future Fellowship (2024-2028). Her research has been recognised by >35 awards, including being named a 2023–24 Superstar of STEM (Science & Technology Australia), the 2023 Peter Goldacre Medallist (Australian Society of Plant Scientists) and the 2022 SA Young Tall Poppy of the Year (Australian Institute of Policy and Science). Dr Soares da Costa is passionate about science communication and promoting scientific research to the media, policymakers and the general community. She regularly gives radio interviews, writes newspaper/magazine articles, participates in community festivals and outreach at schools, and contributes to activities during University Open Days and National Science Week.
For more information on Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa's research, have a look at her laboratory webpage Herbicide and Antimicrobial Innovation Laboratory | School of Agriculture, Food & Wine | University of Adelaide, and profiles on LinkedIn and Research Gate. You can follow Tatiana on X/Twitter @Tatiana_Biochem and Bluesky @tatiana-biochem.bsky.social. To get in contact with her, please e-mail tatiana.soaresdacosta@adelaide.edu.au.
Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa is recruiting Honours, Masters and PhD students to work on various projects spanning biochemistry, chemistry, microbiology, molecular biology and plant biology. Please contact Tatiana directly with an expression of interest (tatiana.soaresdacosta@adelaide.edu.au).
Members of the Soares da Costa research group (from left to right). Dr Andrew Barrow (postdoctoral researcher), Dr Emily Mackie (postdoctoral researcher), Sreshtha Malik (PhD student), Olivia Oh (PhD student), Art Hussnain (MPhil student), Ryan McClean (PhD student), Mirrin McKay (PhD student) and Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa (Laboratory Head).
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2024 - ongoing Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow University of Adelaide 2022 - 2024 Group Leader and Future Making Fellow University of Adelaide 2019 - 2022 Group Leader and ARC DECRA Fellow La Trobe University 2015 - 2019 NHMRC Early Career Peter Doherty Fellow La Trobe University 2013 - 2015 Teaching Only Lecturer Charles Sturt University -
Language Competencies
Language Competency Portuguese Can read, write, speak and understand spoken -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title The University of Adelaide Australia PhD University of Canterbury New Zealand Master of Science (First Class Honours) University of Canterbury New Zealand Bachelor of Science
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Journals
Year Citation 2025 Antoney, J., Kainrath, S., Dubowsky, J. G., Ahmed, F. H., Kang, S. W., Mackie, E. R. R., . . . Janovjak, H. (2025). A F<inf>420</inf>-dependent Single Domain Chemogenetic Tool for Protein De-dimerization. Journal of Molecular Biology, 437(17), 169184.
2025 Mackie, E. R. R., Mckay, M. V., Barrow, A. S., & da Costa, T. P. S. (2025). Inhibitors of lysine biosynthesis enzymes as potential new herbicides. FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY, 52(5), 13 pages.
2023 Javorsky, A., Maddumage, J. C., Mackie, E. R. R., Soares da Costa, T. P., Humbert, P. O., & Kvansakul, M. (2023). Structural insight into the Scribble PDZ domains interaction with the oncogenic Human T-cell lymphotrophic virus-1 (HTLV-1) Tax1 PBM. The FEBS journal, 290(4), 974-987.
Scopus9 Europe PMC92023 Vujcic, B., Wyllie, J., Tania., Burns, J., White, K. F., Cromwell, S., . . . Houston, S. D. (2023). Cage Hydrocarbons as Linkers in Dimeric Drug Design: Case Studies with Trimethoprim and Tedizolid. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 80, 129086-1-129086-5.
Scopus3 WoS22023 Ottonello, A., Wyllie, J. A., Yahiaoui, O., Sun, S., Koelln, R. A., Homer, J. A., . . . Moses, J. E. (2023). Shapeshifting bullvalene-linked vancomycin dimers as effective antibiotics against multidrug-resistant gram-positive bacteria.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(15), e2208737120.
Scopus12 WoS1 Europe PMC82023 Mackie, E. R. R., Barrow, A. S., Giel, M. -C., Hulett, M. D., Gendall, A. R., Panjikar, S., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2023). Repurposed inhibitor of bacterial dihydrodipicolinate reductase exhibits effective herbicidal activity. Communications Biology, 6(1), 1-11.
Scopus3 Europe PMC32023 Christoff, R. M., Al Bayer, M., Soares da Costa, T. P., Perugini, M. A., & Abbott, B. M. (2023). Enhancing allosteric inhibition of dihydrodipicolinate synthase through the design and synthesis of novel dimeric compounds. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 14(9), 1698-1703.
Scopus12022 Soares da Costa, T., Wyllie, J., Ghardi, C., Hulett, M., Abbott, B., Sutton, M., & Perugini, M. (2022). The First Inhibitor of <i>Meso</i>-Diaminopimelate Biosynthesis with Antibacterial Activity Against Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria.
2022 Mackie, E. R. R., Barrow, A. S., Christoff, R. M., Abbott, B. M., Gendall, A. R., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2022). A dual-target herbicidal inhibitor of lysine biosynthesis. eLife, 11, 1-11.
Scopus8 WoS4 Europe PMC52022 Wyllie, J. A., McKay, M. V., Barrow, A. S., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2022). Biosynthesis of uridine diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine: An underexploited pathway in the search for novel antibiotics?. IUBMB life, 71(12), 1232-1252.
Scopus13 WoS5 Europe PMC82022 Mather, J. C., Wyllie, J. A., Hamilton, A., Soares da Costa, T. P., & Barnard, P. J. (2022). Antibacterial silver and gold complexes of imidazole and 1,2,4-triazole derived N-heterocyclic carbenes. Dalton Transactions, 51(32), 12056-12070.
Scopus21 WoS4 Europe PMC72022 Teakel, S., Marama, M., Aragao, D., Tsimbalyuk, S., Mackie, E. R. R., da Costa, T. P. S., . . . Cahill, M. A. (2022). Structural characterisation of a MAPR-related archaeal cytochrome b(5M) protein. FEBS Letters, 596(18), 2409-2417.
Scopus3 WoS2 Europe PMC22021 Christoff, R. M., Soares da Costa, T. P., Bayat, S., Holien, J. K., Perugini, M. A., & Abbott, B. M. (2021). Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of 2,4-thiazolidinediones and analogous heterocycles as inhibitors of dihydrodipicolinate synthase. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 52, 116518-1-116518-9.
Scopus6 WoS4 Europe PMC52021 Wines, B. D., Trist, H. M., Esparon, S., Impey, R. E., Mackay, G. A., Andrews, R. K., . . . Hogarth, P. M. (2021). Fc Binding by FcγRIIa Is Essential for Cellular Activation by the Anti-FcγRIIa mAbs 8.26 and 8.2. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 666813-1-666813-13.
Scopus3 WoS1 Europe PMC32021 Nonis, S. G., Haywood, J., Schmidberger, J. W., Mackie, E. R. R., Soares da Costa, T. P., Bond, C. S., & Mylne, J. S. (2021). Structural and biochemical analyses of concanavalin A circular permutation by jack bean asparaginyl endopeptidase. Plant Cell, 33(8), 2794-2811.
Scopus20 WoS7 Europe PMC122021 Soares da Costa, T. P., Hall, C. J., Panjikar, S., Wyllie, J. A., Christoff, R. M., Bayat, S., . . . Perugini, M. A. (2021). Towards novel herbicide modes of action by inhibiting lysine biosynthesis in plants. eLife, 10, 1-17.
Scopus16 WoS11 Europe PMC102021 Hall, C. J., Lee, M., Boarder, M. P., Mangion, A. M., Gendall, A. R., Panjikar, S., . . . Soares da Costa, T. P. (2021). Differential lysine-mediated allosteric regulation of plant dihydrodipicolinate synthase isoforms. FEBS Journal, 288(16), 4973-4986.
Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC42020 Li, Z., MacKie, E. R. R., Ramkissoon, P., Mather, J. C., Wiratpruk, N., Soares Da Costa, T. P., & Barnard, P. J. (2020). Synthesis, conformational analysis and antibacterial activity of Au(I)-Ag(I) and Au(I)-Hg(II) heterobimetallic N-heterocyclic carbene complexes. Dalton Transactions, 49(36), 12820-12834.
Scopus12 WoS6 Europe PMC42020 Impey, R. E., Hawkins, D. A., Sutton, J. M., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2020). Overcoming intrinsic and acquired resistance mechanisms associated with the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria. Antibiotics, 9(9), 1-19.
Scopus63 WoS32 Europe PMC362020 Suraweera, C. D., Anasir, M. I., Chugh, S., Javorsky, A., Impey, R. E., Hasan Zadeh, M., . . . Kvansakul, M. (2020). Structural insight into tanapoxvirus-mediated inhibition of apoptosis. FEBS Journal, 287(17), 3733-3750.
Scopus12 WoS8 Europe PMC92020 Impey, R. E., Lee, M., Hawkins, D. A., Sutton, J. M., Panjikar, S., Perugini, M. A., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2020). Mis-annotations of a promising antibiotic target in high-priority gram-negative pathogens. FEBS Letters, 594(9), 1453-1463.
Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC32020 Young, N. D., Harris, T. J., Evangelista, M., Tran, S., Wouters, M. A., Soares da Costa, T. P., . . . Fairlie, W. D. (2020). Diversity in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway of nematodes. Communications Biology, 3(1), 478-1-478-12.
Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC32020 Bleackley, M. R., Vasa, S., Harvey, P. J., Shafee, T. M. A., Kerenga, B. K., Soares da Costa, T. P., . . . Anderson, M. A. (2020). Histidine-rich defensins from the solanaceae and brasicaceae are antifungal and metal binding proteins. Journal of Fungi, 6(3), 1-14.
Scopus10 WoS4 Europe PMC82020 Hall, C. J., Mackie, E. R. R., Gendall, A. R., Perugini, M. A., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2020). Review: amino acid biosynthesis as a target for herbicide development. Pest Management Science, 76(12), 3896-3904.
Scopus23 WoS13 Europe PMC142020 Giel, M. C., Smedley, C. J., Mackie, E. R. R., Guo, T., Dong, J., Soares da Costa, T. P., & Moses, J. E. (2020). Metal-Free Synthesis of Functional 1-Substituted-1,2,3-Triazoles from Ethenesulfonyl Fluoride and Organic Azides. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59(3), 1181-1186.
Scopus72 WoS53 Europe PMC162020 Impey, R. E., Panjikar, S., Hall, C. J., Bock, L. J., Sutton, J. M., Perugini, M. A., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2020). Identification of two dihydrodipicolinate synthase isoforms from Pseudomonas aeruginosa that differ in allosteric regulation. The Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Journal, 287(2), 386-400.
Scopus13 WoS11 Europe PMC112020 Suraweera, C. D., Anasir, M. I., Chugh, S., Javorsky, A., Impey, R. E., Zadeh, M. H., . . . Kvansakul, M. (2020). Structural insight into tanapoxvirus mediated inhibition of apoptosis.
2019 Gilson, P. R., Kumarasingha, R., Thompson, J., Zhang, X., Penington, J. S., Kalhor, R., . . . Abbott, B. M. (2019). A 4-cyano-3-methylisoquinoline inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum growth targets the sodium efflux pump PfATP4. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1-15.
Scopus22 WoS14 Europe PMC162019 Lee, E. F., Smith, N. A., Soares da Costa, T. P., Meftahi, N., Yao, S., Harris, T. J., . . . Fairlie, W. D. (2019). Structural insights into BCL2 pro-survival protein interactions with the key autophagy regulator BECN1 following phosphorylation by STK4/MST1. Autophagy, 15(5), 785-795.
Scopus38 WoS30 Europe PMC302019 Christoff, R. M., Gardhi, C. K., Soares Da Costa, T. P., Perugini, M. A., & Abbott, B. M. (2019). Pursuing DHDPS: An enzyme of unrealised potential as a novel antibacterial target. MedChemComm, 10(9), 1581-1588.
Scopus8 WoS82018 Gupta, R., Hogan, C. J., Perugini, M. A., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2018). Characterization of recombinant dihydrodipicolinate synthase from the bread wheat Triticum aestivum. Planta, 248(2), 381-391.
Scopus7 WoS4 Europe PMC32018 Soares da Costa, T. P., Abbott, B. M., Gendall, A. R., Panjikar, S., & Perugini, M. A. (2018). Molecular evolution of an oligomeric biocatalyst functioning in lysine biosynthesis. Biophysical Reviews, 10(2), 153-162.
Scopus17 Europe PMC92018 North, R. A., Wahlgren, W. Y., Remus, D. M., Scalise, M., Kessans, S. A., Dunevall, E., . . . Dobson, R. C. J. (2018). The Sodium Sialic Acid Symporter From Staphylococcus aureus Has Altered Substrate Specificity. Frontiers in Chemistry, 6, 233-1-233-11.
Europe PMC182018 Smith, K. M., Tsimbalyuk, S., Edwards, M. R., Cross, E. M., Batra, J., Soares da Costa, T. P., . . . Forwood, J. K. (2018). Structural basis for importin alpha 3 specificity of W proteins in Hendra and Nipah viruses. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1-13.
Scopus54 WoS42 Europe PMC462018 Stifter, S. A., Matthews, A. Y., Mangan, N. E., Fung, K. Y., Drew, A., Tate, M. D., . . . Hertzog, P. J. (2018). Defining the distinct, intrinsic properties of the novel type i interferon, IFNϵ. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293(9), 3168-3179.
Scopus32 WoS23 Europe PMC272018 Gupta, R., Soares da Costa, T. P., Faou, P., Dogovski, C., & Perugini, M. A. (2018). Comparison of untagged and his-tagged dihydrodipicolinate synthase from the enteric pathogen Vibrio cholerae. Protein Expression and Purification, 145, 85-93.
Scopus11 WoS11 Europe PMC72018 Hall, C. J., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2018). Lysine: biosynthesis, catabolism and roles. WikiJournal of Science, 1(1).
Scopus102017 Ellisdon, A. M., Nold-Petry, C. A., D’Andrea, L., Cho, S. X., Lao, J. C., Rudloff, I., . . . Nold, M. F. (2017). Homodimerization attenuates the anti-inflammatory activity of interleukin-37. Science Immunology, 2(8), 1-12.
Scopus53 WoS40 Europe PMC342017 Soares da Costa, T. P., Patel, M., Desbois, S., Gupta, R., Faou, P., & Perugini, M. A. (2017). Identification of a dimeric KDG aldolase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics, 85(11), 2058-2065.
Scopus8 WoS6 Europe PMC52017 Soares Da Costa, T. P., Nanson, J. D., & Forwood, J. K. (2017). Structural characterisation of the fatty acid biosynthesis enzyme FabF from the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-9.
Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC42016 Miles, N. G., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2016). Acceptance of clickers in a large multimodal biochemistry class as determined by student evaluations of teaching: Are they just an annoying distraction for distance students?. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 44(1), 99-108.
Scopus7 WoS4 Europe PMC22016 Christensen, J. B., Soares Da Costa, T. P., Faou, P., Pearce, F. G., Panjikar, S., & Perugini, M. A. (2016). Structure and Function of Cyanobacterial DHDPS and DHDPR. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 12 pages.
Scopus24 WoS16 Europe PMC162016 Peverelli, M. G., Soares da Costa, T., Kirby, N., & Perugini, M. A. (2016). Dimerization of bacterial diaminopimelate decarboxylase is essential for catalysis. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291(18), 9785-9795.
Scopus34 WoS27 Europe PMC232016 da Costa, T. P. S. (2016). Conference survival guide-the dos and don'ts. CELL DEATH DISCOVERY, 2(1), 3 pages.
Europe PMC12016 Soares da Costa, T. P., Desbois, S., Dogovski, C., Gorman, M. A., Ketaren, N. E., Paxman, J. J., . . . Perugini, M. A. (2016). Structural Determinants Defining the Allosteric Inhibition of an Essential Antibiotic Target. Structure, 24(8), 1282-1291.
Scopus32 WoS26 Europe PMC232016 Soares da Costa, T. P. (2016). Supervisor types: which one is your match?. Cell Death Discovery, 2(1), 2 pages.
Scopus22015 Tieu, W., Polyak, S., Paparella, A., Yap, M., Soares Da Costa, T., Ng, B., . . . Abell, A. (2015). Improved synthesis of biotinol-5'-AMP: implications for antibacterial discovery. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 6(2), 216-220.
Scopus18 WoS17 Europe PMC92014 Tieu, W., Jarrad, A. M., Paparella, A. S., Keeling, K. A., Soares da Costa, T. P., Wallace, J. C., . . . Abell, A. D. (2014). Heterocyclic acyl-phosphate bioisostere-based inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus biotin protein ligase. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 24(19), 4689-4693.
Scopus20 WoS17 Europe PMC82014 Paparella, A., Soares Da Costa, T., Yap, M., Tieu, W., Wilce, M., Booker, G., . . . Polyak, S. (2014). Structure guided design of biotin protein ligase inhibitors for antibiotic discovery. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 14(1), 4-20.
Scopus27 WoS25 Europe PMC132014 Soares da Costa, T., Yap, M., Perugini, M., Wallace, J., Abell, A., Wilce, M., . . . Booker, G. (2014). Dual roles of F123 in protein homodimerization and inhibitor binding to biotin protein ligase from Staphylococcus aureus. Molecular Microbiology, 91(1), 110-120.
Scopus21 WoS17 Europe PMC132013 Tieu, W., Soares da Costa, T., Yap, M., Keeling, K., Wilce, M., Wallace, J., . . . Abell, A. (2013). Optimising in situ click chemistry: the screening and identification of biotin protein ligase inhibitors. Chemical Science, 4(9), 3533-3537.
Scopus38 WoS342012 Soares da Costa, T., Tieu, W., Yap, M., Zvarec, O., Bell, J., Turnidge, J., . . . Polyak, S. (2012). Biotin analogues with antibacterial activity are potent inhibitors of biotin protein ligase. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 3(6), 509-514.
Scopus41 WoS36 Europe PMC212012 Soares da Costa, T., Tieu, W., Yap, M., Pendini, N., Polyak, S., Pedersen, D., . . . Abell, A. (2012). Selective inhibition of biotin protein ligase from Staphylococcus aureus. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287(21), 17823-17832.
Scopus60 WoS45 Europe PMC352012 Mayende, L., Swift, R., Bailey, L., Soares da Costa, T., Wallace, J., Booker, G., & Polyak, S. (2012). A novel molecular mechanism to explain biotin-unresponsive holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency. Journal of Molecular Medicine-JMM, 90(1), 81-88.
Scopus27 WoS23 Europe PMC192010 Soares da Costa, T. P., Muscroft-Taylor, A. C., Dobson, R. C. J., Devenish, S. R. A., Jameson, G. B., & Gerrard, J. A. (2010). How essential is the 'essential' active-site lysine in dihydrodipicolinate synthase?. Biochimie, 92(7), 837-845.
Scopus33 WoS29 Europe PMC212010 Muscroft-Taylor, A. C., Soares da Costa, T. P., & Gerrard, J. A. (2010). New insights into the mechanism of dihydrodipicolinate synthase using isothermal titration calorimetry. Biochimie, 92(3), 254-262.
Scopus24 WoS19 Europe PMC13 -
Book Chapters
Year Citation 2020 Gaskin, S. M., Soares Da Costa, T. P., & Hulett, M. D. (2020). Heparanase: Cloning, Function and Regulation. In Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (Vol. 1221, pp. 189-229). Springer International Publishing.
DOI Scopus9 WoS8 Europe PMC92015 Soares Da Costa, T. P., Christensen, J. B., Desbois, S., Gordon, S. E., Gupta, R., Hogan, C. J., . . . Perugini, M. A. (2015). Quaternary Structure Analyses of an Essential Oligomeric Enzyme. In J. L. Cole (Ed.), Methods in Enzymology (Vol. 562, pp. 205-223). ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS INC.
DOI Scopus20 WoS16 Europe PMC15 -
Preprint
Year Citation 2022 Antoney, J., Kainrath, S., Ahmed, F. H., Kang, S. W., Mackie, E. R. R., Soares da Costa, T. P., . . . Janovjak, H. (2022). A F<sub>420</sub>-dependent single domain chemogenetic tool for protein de-dimerization.
DOI2022 Mackie, E. R. R., Barrow, A. S., Christoff, R. M., Abbott, B. M., Gendall, A. R., & Soares da Costa, T. P. (2022). A dual-target herbicidal inhibitor of lysine biosynthesis.
DOI
| Year | Funding | Role | Amount |
| 2025–2028 | ARC Discovery Project (DP250102939): Learning lessons from drug resistance to tackle herbicide resistance | Lead CI | $666,653 |
| 2024–2028 | ARC Future Fellowship (FT230100203): Striving for the path of least herbicide resistance | Sole CI | $830,380 |
| 2023–2027 | ARC Training Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobial Resistance (ICC220100050) | CI | $4,508,426 |
| 2023–2025 | NHMRC Ideas Grant (APP2020758): A novel dual therapy approach to treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections | CI | $981,046 |
| 2022–2025 | ARC Discovery Project (DP220101901): Re-purposing shelved ‘antibiotics’ in the search for new herbicides | Lead CI | $446,368 |
| 2022–2025 | Hermon Slade Foundation: Towards novel diagnostic tools to monitor and combat herbicide resistance | Lead CI | $77,842 |
| 2022–2024 | South Australian Potato Industry Trust Fund: New herbicides for effective weed control in potato cropping systems | Sole CI | $85,477 |
| 2022–2024 | Australian Academy of Science Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology: Using supercomputers in the search for herbicides that inhibit amino acid production in plants | Sole CI | $19,960 |
| 2022–2023 | Yitpi Foundation Grant: Herbicides with new active ingredients for effective wheat protection | Sole CI | $14,500 |
| 2019–2022 | ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE190100806): Towards herbicide cocktails with a new mode of action to avert resistance | Sole CI | $419,854 |
| 2019–2022 | Australian Academy of Science JG Russell Award (to support the ARC DECRA) | Sole CI | $6,000 |
| 2020–2022 | Defence Science Institute Research Higher Degree Stipend (to fund an HDR student): Combating the resistance crisis: Towards new antibiotic and herbicide targets | Sole CI | $15,000 |
| 2020–2022 | Defence Science Institute Research Higher Degree Scholarship (to fund an HDR student): Fighting superbugs with novel drugs to tackle resistance | Sole CI | $15,000 |
| 2019–2022 | Grains Research and Development Corporation Research Higher Degree Scholarship (to fund an HDR student): Development of herbicide cocktails with a novel mode of action for circumventing resistance mechanisms | $107,091 | |
| 2015–2019 | NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (APP1091976): Broad spectrum inhibition of an enzyme antibiotic target | Sole CI | $309,436 |
2022–2024: Honours Coordinator, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2025 Principal Supervisor Structural and functional characterisation of protein targets to guide the design of novel herbicides Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Chaudhry Artemiy Hussnain 2025 Principal Supervisor Integration of Experimental Approaches for Exploration and Development of Novel Antifungal Agents: Addressing Emerging Resistance Challenges Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Olivia Pei Ying Oh 2024 Co-Supervisor Preclinical evaluation of new derivatives of the anticoccidial drug robenidine as novel antibacterial agents Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sayara Bista 2024 Co-Supervisor Identify and characterise plant glycosyltransferases involved in critical components of cell wall biosynthesis: identifying essential building blocks for efficient bioenergy production. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Xingyi Zhou 2023 Principal Supervisor Unlocking the Value of Lysine for Sustainable Agriculture Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Mirrin McKay 2022 Principal Supervisor Developing novel strategies to monitor and combat herbicide resistance Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sreshtha Malik 2022 Principal Supervisor A novel repurposing approach for herbicide discovery to combat resistant weeds Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ryan James Francis McClean -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2022 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Strategies to Circumvent Herbicide Resistance Through the Inhibition of Lysine Biosynthesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Emily Rose Ronayne Mackie 2022 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Exploring Alternative Strategies in Antibiotic Discovery to Tackle Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Jessica Anne Wyllie 2022 - 2025 Principal Supervisor Investigating Novel Antibiotic and Herbicide Targets to Circumvent Resistance Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Daniel Adam Hawkins
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Board Memberships
Date Role Board name Institution name Country 2020 - ongoing Board Member Board of Directors Science & Technology Australia Australia 2019 - ongoing Member Executive Committee Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Australia -
Editorial Boards
Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country 2016 - ongoing Editor Editor Australian Biochemist Magazine Australia
Connect With Me
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