Dr Virginie Gaget
Grant-Funded Research Fellow
School of Medicine
College of Health
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
Dr Gaget is a senior researcher within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide with over 15 years of experience in microbial ecology. Her main research interest is to develop new microbial interventions to improve health outcomes of patients with chronic or severe diseases, by unveiling the role of the human microbiome in disease onset.
BACKGROUND:
Dr Gaget has an expertise of over 15 years in microbiology and microbial ecology. After graduating from a PhD in Microbiology and Virology from Universite Paris VII and the Pasteur Institute, she moved to Adelaide to work on toxic microalgae in collaboration with local water utilities and government agencies. Over the course of 12 years, her method development and pioneer work on benthic cyanobacteria made her a recognised expert in the field both nationally and internationally. During this time, she led large collaborative research projects (n>10 partners by projects at times), in Australia, South-East Asia and North America, one of which led to the development of the first monitoring guidelines for drinking water that include benthic cyanobacteria as a toxic risk.
After over a decade working on water-associated public health issues, Dr Gaget is now applying her skills to medical sciences. She transitioned to health and medical sciences by working in Health Technology assessment for three years at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (ASERNIP-S), reviewing new interventions for the Australian and Swiss Governments. This appointment provided her skills and knowledge in research translation, trial design and critical study and medical data assessment. Silmutaneously, she coordinated an MRFF project looking at the medical and social impact of mobile radiology for patients living in residential aged care facilities. This project led to recommendations for the deployment and funding of mobile X-ray services to residential aged care facilities in Australia.
CURRENT RESEARCH:
Dr Gaget is currently coordinating a world-first clinical trial (project MRFF2024316) aiming to improve symptoms and health outcomes in patients with non-resectable pancreatic cancer by using faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a co-treatment to chemotherapy. Lack of symptoms, means that pancreatic cancer often presents at an advanced stage, reducing opportunities to treat it efficiently. As a result, the survival rate still remains low (25% will survive 1 year after diagnosis and 12% will survive >5 years after diagnosis), while incidence is steadily increasing in the population including in individuals younger than 50 years old. A recent animal study demonstrated that FMT from a healthy control or a long-term survivor of pancreatic cancer significantly decreases the size of tumours. This clinical trial aims to test the safety of FMT for patients with pancreatic cancers. If the results from the animal study can be replicated during this trial, this new microbial intervention could bring new hope to a growing cohort of vulnerable patients.
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/news/list/2025/05/21/participants-needed-for-world-first-pancreatic-cancer-study
Dr Gaget is also currently applying for funding to look at microbial interventions or manipulations for other diseases including oral cancers, endometriosis and cystic fibrosis.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - ongoing | Senior researcher | University of Adelaide |
| 2019 - 2020 | Research officer | Royal Australasian College of Surgeons |
| 2017 - 2019 | Post-Doctoral Fellow | University of Adelaide |
| 2012 - 2017 | ARC Post-Doctoral Fellow | University of Adelaide |
| 2010 - 2012 | Research Post-Doctoral Fellow | SA Water |
| 2008 - 2009 | Research Post-Doc Fellow | Veolia Environment |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| English | Can read, write, speak and peer review |
| French | Can read, write, speak and peer review |
| German | Can understand spoken |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 - 2008 | Paris Diderot University | France | PhD in Microbiology and Virology |
| 2003 - 2004 | University Nancy I | France | Masters degree in Water Chemistry and Microbiology |
| 2002 - 2003 | University of La Rochelle | France | Honours in Marine Ecology |
| 1999 - 2002 | Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 / University of La Rochelle | France | Bachelor degree in Biological Sciences |
| Date | Title | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 - 2009 | Cyanobacterial bloom dynamics, production and control of odour metabolites in Chinese and Australian Reservoirs | Australian Water Quality Centre | Australia |
| 2003 - 2004 | High sensitive real-time PCR for the detection of Legionella pneumophila and Legionella spp. In drinking water supplies and conditioned water | University of Paris-Sud, Orsay | France |
| 2003 - 2003 | Impact of Foraminifera populations on benthic bacterial communities of Aiguillon Bay (France) Foraminifera’s impact on benthic bacterial communities of Aiguillon Bay (France) | University of La Rochelle, La Rochelle | France |
| 2003 - 2003 | Enumeration of pelagic and benthic viral populations present in Aiguillon Bay: comparison of abundance and morphology (France) | University of La Rochelle, La Rochelle | France |
| Date | Title | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Quarantine Accredited staff | AQIS | Australia |
| — | Coxswain II | AMFA | Australia |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Keneally, C. (2025). Salinity-Dependent Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemical Dynamics in a Degraded Hypersaline Coastal Lagoon. (PhD Thesis, The University of Adelaide). |
| 2020 | Keneally, C. (2020). Towards Recovery of the Coorong: A Framework for Investigating Denitrification, Diversity & Other Functional Roles of Microbial Communities in Hypersaline Sediments. (Undergraduate Dissertation). |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| - | Keneally, C., Gaget, V., Kidd, S., & Brookes, J. (n.d.). <b>Publication Raw Data - </b><b>Sample preservation solution increases nucleic acid yield and environmental RNA quality in sediments across an estuarine salinity gradient</b>. DOI |
1) Funded category one projects:
- Maddern G., Price T., Bryant R., Costello S., Gaget V., Kuan, L-L., Hugh, T., Afzali H. 2022. Faecal Microbiota Transplantation to improve pain, symptom management and treatment efficacy in patients with pancreatic cancer. 2022 MRFF Pancreatic Cancer Research Stream 1. Experimental design, team building, partner engagement, proposal writing. ($1.5M)
- Brookes J., Humpage A. , Burch M., Monis P. , Lin T-F. 2012. Bad tastes, odours and toxins in our drinking water reservoirs: are benthic cyanobacteria the culprits? ARC-Linkage grant. Experimental design, proposal writing. Preferred candidate. ($1.2M including partner contributions)
2) Other external sources of funding:
- Wert E., Zamyadi A., Gaget V., Owen C., Hofmann R. 2018. Developing guidance for assessment and evaluation of algal blooms, and implementation of control strategies in source water. Experimental design, proposal writing. (US$200K)
- Gaget V., Brookes J., Van der Linden L. and Monis P. 2016. Benthic algae: a toxic risk to be evaluated. Research for 13 program, Water Research Australia initiative – funding by the industry and governmental agencies including the Water Research Foundation (USA). Experimental design, team building, partner engagement, proposal writing. ($347K)
- Humpage A. CyanoSurvey project. 2009. Water Research Australia grant - experimental design and participation in proposal writing. ($1.4M)
I am qualified to supervise HDR students. Currently co-supervising one PhD student and a fifth year medical school student.
I taught lectures in microbial ecology and microbiology in the School of Biological Sciences (2013-2019).
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 - 2025 | Co-Supervisor | Salinity-Dependant Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemical Dynamics in a Degraded Hypersaline Coastal Lagoon | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Christopher Clement Keneally |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Location | Program | Supervision Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 - ongoing | Principal Supervisor | Systematic reviews (surgery) | University of Adelaidfe | Adelaide Medical School (5th year) | Other | - | Na Yeon Kim |
| 2018 - 2019 | Principal Supervisor | Freshwater Microbial Ecology | University of Adelaide | Summer Scholarship | Other | Part Time | Christopher Keneally |
| Date | Engagement Type | Partner Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | SeqWater |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | Melbourne Water |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | Barwon Water |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | Tasmania Water |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | Hunter Water |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | PUB, Singapore |
| 2017 - ongoing | Consultant | Water Research Foundation (USA) |
| 2012 - ongoing | Consultant | Water New South Wales |
| 2010 - ongoing | Consultant | Water Research Australia |
| 2008 - ongoing | Consultant | South Australia Water Corporation |