UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

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Dr. Matthew McNeil is a microbiologist based in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago. Dr. McNeil has previously held post-doctoral positions in France (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette Campus) and in biotechnology companies in the United Stats of America advancing novel small molecules for infectious diseases therapy. Currently Dr. McNeil’s research is focused on understanding bacterial drug resistance with an emphasis on mycobacterial pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis a leading cause of infectious disease morbidity and mortality. This work applies a variety of approaches including antimicrobial susceptibility assays, functional genomic technologies including recombineering and CRISPR-interference, high-throughput genetic screens and other omic technologies. Through collaborations with structural biologists, biochemists, medicinal chemists, and infectious disease experts the long-term aim of this work is to drive the development of technologies and therapeutic strategies to predict and prevent the evolution of antibiotic resistance.  

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

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Dr Carola Venturini is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Sydney (USyd; Australia). She is an expert microbiologist whose work focusses on the investigation of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and innovative solutions against multidrug resistant infectious bacteria, using a multidisciplinary approach. She started her studies at the Universita’ degli Studi di Trieste (Italy) and completed her PhD in molecular biology at the University of Wollongong (Australia), investigating antimicrobial resistance, virulence and mobile genetic elements in pathogenic enterobacteria, which remains a main research interest. Post-PhD, Carola spent three years at The University of Queensland and eight at the Centre of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (Sydney; continued affiliation), where she led large-scope projects investigating human pathogens, gut microbiome health related to antibiotic use, and use of bacteriophages to combat bacterial infections. Since 2021, at USyd as group leader, her work on antimicrobial resistance and bacteriophages has expanded to animal settings, with a truly One Health approach. Her current work also includes investigation of bacterial adaptive responses to bacteriophage attack (NHMRC (Aus Gov) funded).

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

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Romain Guérillot is a Research Fellow in the Howden and Stinear laboratories at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne. He studies the intersection of bacterial evolution and infectious diseases. He completed his PhD at the Pasteur Institute and has spent much of his career at the Doherty Institute investigating how bacterial pathogens adapt. Romain also brings leadership experience from the biotechnology industry, having served as Head of Bioinformatics and Data Science at DEINOVE. In this role, he led the data integration for a high-throughput drug discovery platform, combining genome mining, metagenomics, metabolomics, and bioactivity screening to prioritise novel antimicrobial leads. 

His research focuses on how pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus survive antibiotics and host immune pressures. He integrates experimental microbiology and infection models with population-level functional genomics. He applies large-scale genomic analyses, multi-omics, and high-throughput phenotyping to identify rapid molecular changes that allow bacteria to adapt and persist across different host niches. 

A central theme of his work is phenotypic heterogeneity driven by reversible genetic mechanisms. He characterises how frequent genetic switches, from large-scale chromosomal rearrangements to phase-variable simple sequence repeats, enable bacterial populations to rapidly toggle critical traits such as intracellular persistence, antibiotic resistance, and immune evasion. By decoding these mechanisms, his research aims to provide a high-resolution view of microbial adaptation during infection. His goal is to decode the genetic mechanisms underlying rapid bacterial adaptation, and to use this knowledge to develop better therapeutic strategies and diagnostics. 

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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Dr Matt Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and a Research Group Leader at the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases. His research programme focuses on bacterial metal resistance, gene regulation, and their roles in virulence and pathogenesis. He currently leads an internationally connected research team investigating how Group B Streptococcus adapts to and exploits host metal environments during infection. 

Matt received his BSc (Hons) in Microbiology in 2007 and his PhD in Molecular Microbiology in 2012 from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, UK. He undertook postdoctoral training at UEA and at Griffith University (Queensland), building expertise across environmental, marine, and pathogenic microbiology. In 2022, he established his independent laboratory at UEA with support from the Academy of Medical Sciences’ prestigious Springboard Award and the Royal Society, marking a key step in his transition to independent research leadership. He currently holds competitive funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Australian NHMRC through international and national collaborations. 

Matt’s research is grounded in bacterial genetics and metabolism and is characterised by a strong cross‑disciplinary approach. He has made influential contributions to understanding dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) catabolism in marine bacteria, copper‑dependent regulation of denitrification in soil bacteria, and regulatory cross‑talk controlling metal resistance in bacterial pathogens. His current work focuses on defining the metabolic and regulatory pathways that enable Group B Streptococcus to survive metal intoxication and establish infection. These studies form a central pillar of ongoing research in his laboratories at the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases at UWA and his adjunct laboratory at UEA. 

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

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Dr. Ram Maharjan is a Senior Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, where he investigates the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that enable bacteria to survive and adapt under hostile conditions. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney in 2008 and has since established a research program integrating functional genomics, molecular biology, and experimental evolution to understand how stress responses shape genome dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, and pathogen fitness. 

Trained in microbial evolution and population biology, Dr. Maharjan has developed a distinctive interdisciplinary approach that bridges genomics and evolutionary theory. He has contributed to influential studies published in leading journals, including Science, PLOS Biology, and Nucleic Acids Research, advancing understanding of bacterial adaptation and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. 

His research focuses on the opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, a major cause of hospital-acquired infections with exceptional tolerance to desiccation, oxidative stress, and antibiotics. Using integrated functional genomics approaches, his work defines key regulatory networks underlying bacterial stress adaptation, identifying central regulators such as DksA and the extracytoplasmic function sigma factor σX that coordinate stress resilience, genome stability, mutation rates, and virulence. 

Dr. Maharjan’s research provides important insights into the evolution of clinically significant pathogens and identifies potential molecular targets to limit antimicrobial resistance. At BacPath 2026, he will present his latest findings on how coordinated regulatory networks enable bacterial survival and pathogenicity under extreme environmental pressures. 

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

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Yoshikazu Kawai is a senior researcher in the laboratory of Professor Jeff Errington at the University of Sydney. His research includes bacterial morphogenesis, antibiotic resistance, and L-form bacteria.

He received his PhD in bacterial genetics and cell biology from the NAIST in Japan in 2003, followed by postdoctoral appointments in the Errington group at the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology in the UK. The lab has recently relocated to Sydney.

His landmark discovery on Bacillus subtilis revealed the molecular basis for switching in and out of the cell wall-deficient “L-form” state, allowing bacteria to completely resist cell wall-active antibiotics and evade some host immune defences. Over the last decade or so, his work has established how they originate, how they grow and divide in the absence of a cell wall, and the constraints on their growth and viability.

His current research focuses on establishing a model to investigate the importance of L-forms in persistent or recurrent infections and potential starting points for developing new therapeutic strategies.