Current RESEARCHERS
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Elena Colombi
Elena completed her Bsc and Msc at the University of Florence and spent six months at the University of Reading. Her research in Paul Rainey's lab at Massay University was centred around the kiwifruit pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae. During her PhD, she studied the evolution of this pathogen through the acquisition of mobile DNA elements, with particular interest in defining and characterising a novel family of these elements present in plant associated Pseudomonas. Her interest in horizontal gene transfer has brought her to the Ramsay Lab, where she now studies the diversity, structure and evolution of mobile DNA elements in Mesorhizobia.
PhD candidates
Karina Yui Eto
Kari is currently a University of Western Australia PhD student cosupervised by Prof. Charles Bond and Dr Josh Ramsay and will soon be an NHMRC-funded Post-Doc in the Ramsay lab. Karina studies the structural biology of DNA-binding proteins involved in the transfer of antimicrobial-resistance genes in Staphylococcus aureus "Golden Staph" MRSA.

Drew Hall
Drew is a Curtin University PhD student supervised by Prof. Charles Bond, Dr Josh Ramsay and Prof. Clive Ronson from the University of Otago NZ. Drew studies the structural biology of a unique class of proteins called antiactivators. These antiactivators block cells from being able to respond to chemicals bacteria use to talk to each other.

Riley Murphy
Riley is a Curtin University PhD student who uses modern genome sequencing approaches (Illumina and Pacbio) and linux-based bioinformatics tools to study pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus "Golden Staph" MRSA associated with humans and animals. People who work with animals can often contract S. aureus infections that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Riley's work tries decipher where these strains are coming from and if they are being transmitted between humans and animals. Riley is cosupervised by Prof. Geoff Coombs and Dr Sam Abraham of Murdoch University.

Ratish Permala
Ratish is supervised by Prof. Elizabeth Watkin, Dr Josh Ramsay and Director of the Curtin Water Quality Research Centre Prof. Jean-Philippe Croue. Ratish's work blends Microbiology and Chemistry to determine the effectiveness of next-generation water treatment technologies. Ratish's work also studies the persistence of antibiotic-resistant organisms and antibiotic-resistance genes after treatment. Ratish's work is cofunded by Water Corporation WA and Curtin University.

Tahlia Bastholm
Tahlia is an ARC-funded PhD student who uses microbiology, chemistry and molecular genetics to dechiper new chemical communication molecules produced by bacteria. Bacteria produce chemical signals to talk to each other and control the switching of a variety of cooperative phenotypes including gene transfer, symbiosis, physical movement and even their colour! Tahlia is characterising newly identified molecules produced by agriculturally important rhizobia, supervised by Prof. Clive Ronson (University of Otago, NZ) and Dr Jason Terpolilli (Murdoch University).

Callum Verdonk
Callum is a University of Western Australia PhD student, cosupervised by Prof. Charles Bond, Dr Josh Ramsay and Prof. Clive Ronson (University of Otago, NZ). Callum is continuing the work from his honours project and plans to use surface plasmon resonance, structural biology and ChIPseq to understand the molecular events leading to excision and transfer of mobile DNA.

Amy Davis
Amy is a Curtin University PhD student supervised by Dr Josh Ramsay, Prof. Geoff Coombs (Murdoch University) and Prof. Neville Firth (University of Sydney). Amy is continuing work from her honours project, looking at how different conjugative plasmids in S. aureus can stimulate spread of other antimicrobial-resistance gene plasmids to produce multi-drug resistance strains.
Previous Staff and Students
Postdoctoral Fellows
2018
Elena Colombi
2015
Dulantha Ulluwishewa
2014
Liang Wang
PhD
Timothy Haskett (Murdoch) - completed 2018
Amanuel Bekuma (Murdoch) - completed 2017
Biomedical Science Honours
2020
Adrian Staltari
2018
Amy Davis
Jade Crow
2017
Tahlia Bastholm
Callum Verdonk
Jasmine Cahill Loring
2015
Ayeisha Milligan-Armstrong
Elizabeth Cain
Riley Murphy
2014
Drew Hall
Masters of Biomedical Sciences
2016
Ratish Permala
2015
Marcelina Krysiak
Hui Zhen Liaw
Lauren Olafson
Presana Nair Karunagaran
Berhanu Dessie Abebe
Deane Maria Dmello
2013
Callen Pereira
Karina Yui Eto
Human Biology Research Project
2013
Jackson Patterson-House
Ryan Clohessy
Curtin Summer Studentship
2020-21
Nicola Karakatsanis
2019-20
Adrian Staltari
Catherine Ferraro
2014-15
Riley Murphy
2013-14
Kieran Mulroney
ASM Summer Scholarship
2020-21
Beatrice Panganiban
Jake Cummane
2019-20
Coel Garrod
2015-16
Marcelina Krysiak