About Microbiology

Welcome to the Department of Microbiology

Head of Department:  Professor John K Davies

The Department of Microbiology contains more than 150 personnel, and is part of the School of Biomedical Science within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science at Monash University. The department is housed mainly in building 53 on the Clayton Campus, but also has laboratories and offices in the adjacent buildings 27 and 75 (STRIP1).

The Department of Microbiology teaches undergraduate students at a variety of levels in a broad range of courses, but most of our students are undertaking degrees in Biomedical Science, Science or Medicine. The department also has a vigorous postgraduate program, with more than 50 PhD students currently enrolled.

The department houses 10research groups, all of which have research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and/or the Australian Research Council. Staff members are Chief Investigators in two different NHMRC Program Grants (malaria andbacterial pathogenesis), and theARC Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics. In 2007, research income exceeded $5 million.

In the broadest sense, the research activities of the Department of Microbiology aim to understand how various microbes interact with their human or animal hosts at the molecular level, how that interaction can result in disease, and how this can be prevented. The department is well equipped for broad genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic investigations. These are applied to projects designed to increase our understanding of microbial pathogenesis, the development of antibiotic resistance, the immune response to infection, and in vaccine development.

The Department of Microbiology manages a suite of PC3 laboratories for the School of Biomedical Sciences. Micromon, the commercial services unit within the department, offers a DNA sequencing service to the broader research community. Micromon has also established nation-wide recognition for its recombinant DNA techniques training course. The Leptospira laboratory within the Department provides a diagnostic and specialist consulting service for human leptospirosis.