A/ Prof Andrea Stringer 

President

Affiliations: Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia

A/ Prof Andrea Stringer co-leads the Bone and Gut Research group, focusing on the role of vitamin D in the intestine. Andrea's work is mainly on gut function, particularly on the role of the gut microbiome (and the effects of vitamin D on gut microbiome) in this environment. She works in the supportive care in cancer field, investigating the role of microbiome on gastrointestinal damage caused by cancer treatment, and also investigates links between gut health and bone outcomes.

Website | @andreastringer1

Ms Ifeoma Dikeocha

Vice President and Journal Club team

Affiliations: The University of Adelaide

Ifeoma is a PhD candidate in the medical science field, exploring the effect of a novel diet and the gut microbiota on breast cancer tumour response to chemotherapy. She is affiliated with the Cancer treatment and toxicities group (CTTG) and Supportive oncology group (SORG) in the university of Adelaide.

@DikeochaIfeoma2

Dr Matthew Snelson

Treasurer and Past President; Founding Member

Affiliations: Department of Diabetes, Monash University

Dr Matthew Snelson is a dietitian and researcher interested in the role of diet in altering disease states via modulation of the gut microbiota. He completed his PhD at Monash University in 2019, investigating the effects of a processed diet on gut homeostasis. He is currently investigating the role of resistant starch on the development of diabetic nephropathy.

Website | @Matt_Snelson

Dr Caitlin Cowan

Secretary and Newsletter team; Founding Member

Affiliations: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales

Dr Caitlin Cowan takes a translational approach to the study of the microbiome-gut-brain axis, informed by her training in clinical psychology and behavioural neuroscience. Her work focuses on the early life microbiome might shape trajectories of mental health and neurodevelopment across the lifespan.

@CaitlinCowanPhD

Dr Ghanyah Al-Qadami

Newsletter team; Past Secretary

Affiliations: Health and Biosecurity, CSIRO

Dr Ghanyah Al-Qadami is a CSIRO early career researcher postdoctoral fellow. Ghanyah's primary research interest is studying the role of the gut microbiota in health and disease and developing gut microbiota-based interventions to improve human health. In her current role, Ghanyah is using ex vivo human intestinal organoid model derived from normal and diseased tissues to study host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions under healthy and disease conditions. 

@GhanyahA

Dr Jose Caparros-Martin 

Website team; Founding Member

Affiliations: The University of Western Australia

Dr Jose Caparros-Martin is a molecular geneticist by training. Jose's primary interests focus on investigating the mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of chronic respiratory conditions, the signalisation pathways regulating the gut-lung axis in chronic lung disease, as well as the development  of microbiome-based strategies to treat chronic conditions affecting the respiratory system.

Website | @JoseCaparrosPhD 

Dr Courtney Cross

Social Media team

Affiliations: The University of Adelaide (Adelaide Medical School); South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI – Precision Medicine) 

Courtney is an ECR aiming to prevent the chronic complications of cancer therapy and alleviate the significant burden imposed by these complications on people living with and beyond cancer. Her current work is focussed on exploring the role of the gut microbiota in the development of the neuropsychological complications of cancer treatment, in the hope of establishing the potential of microbial-based preventative and therapeutic measures for these symptoms.

 @CourtneyCross_1

Dr Carolina Gubert

Journal Club team

Affiliations: Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne

Dr Carolina Gubert is a Research Fellow at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.  She is interested in the gene-environment interactions and the microbiota-gut-brain axis in brain disorders. Using animal models, Carol's research targets the gut microbiome (e.g., using high-fibre diet, antibiotics, faecal microbiota transplant) aiming to identify therapeutic approaches for treating brain disorders.

@CarolGubert3

Prof Anthony Hannan

Founding Member

Affiliations: Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne

Professor Hannan received his undergraduate training and PhD from the University of Sydney.  He was then awarded a Nuffield Medical Fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he subsequently held other research positions before returning to Australia to establish a laboratory at the Florey Institute, University of Melbourne. He is an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow.

Website | @anthonyjhannan

Ben Hargreaves

Website team

Affiliations: The University of South Australia (Clinical and Health Sciences)

Mr Ben Hargreaves is a Masters by Research candidate at the University of South Australia within the Bone and Gut Research Group investigating the effects of Vitamin D deficiency on chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal mucositis and the gut microbiome.

Dr Xiaotao Jiang

Affiliations: UNSW Microbiome Research Centre (MRC), School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, St George and Sutherland Clinical Campuses, University of New South Wales

Dr Jiang is Lead Bioinformatician and Lecturer in UNSW Microbiome Research Centre. Dr Jiang obtained his PhD in the University of Hong Kong, where he applied large scale shotgun metagenomics sequencing to study wastewater microbial ecology with intensive longitudinal microbiome data. He developed Antimicrobial Resistance bioinformatics tool ARGs OAP for metagenomics data. He joined UNSW MRC in 2018 as lead bioinformatician and postdoc, worked on various human microbiome/Virome projects, including liver cancer, colon cancer, in vitro fertilisation, COPD, LongCOVID as well as define Healthy Optimal Australian Microbiome, and apply it to boost health for obesity, ageing and dementia with faecal microbiota transplant.

Website

Dr Sarah-Jane Leigh

Journal Club team

Affiliations: The University of New South Wales

Sarah is an early-career researcher interested in the role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in behavioural and nervous system impairment. Her research interests include microbiota-drug interactions, circadian biology and cognitive performance.

@SarahJane_Leigh | @sarah-janeleigh.bsky.social

Dr Amy Loughman

Founder and Inaugural Chair

Affiliations: Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne

Dr. Amy Loughman is the founder of the Australasian Human Microbiome Research Network, clinically practising psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on microbiome-gut-brain-axis across the human lifespan, and advancing analytical practices in the field. Amy is committed to fostering collaboration and improving microbiome science.

@MBmicrobiome

Evance Pakuwal

Newsletter team

Affiliations: Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide

Evance Pakuwal is a Molecular Microbiologist and a Doctor of Philosophy candidate in the Medicine program at Adelaide Medical School. Her PhD focuses on understanding the effect of oral faecal microbiome transplant (FMT) on the gut-liver axis. She is currently running a GENESIS trial for severe alcoholic hepatitis patients, which is an ongoing multi-center trial in South Australia. Her research aims to explore the changes in gut microbiome dynamics in sAH patients post microbiome transplant using multi-omics. 

Her interests include molecular microbiology, microbial genomics, and  advanced bioinformatics and computational biology.

Website | LinkedIn

A/ Prof Heidi Staudacher 

Social Media team

Affiliations: Diet Gut and Brain Group, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University

Heidi is an advanced accredited practising dietitian and lead of the Diet Gut and Brain Group at Monash University. She and her team are advancing knowledge of diet-induced microbiome shifts and other mechanisms through which diet influences the brain and the gut. Their research is strengthening contemporary management of common mental disorders, such as depression, and disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), such as irritable bowel syndrome. 

@hmstaudacher

Dr Lisa Stinson

Social Media team; Founding Member

Affiliations: School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia

Dr Lisa Stinson is a microbial ecologist and reproductive biologist with a particular expertise in working with low biomass samples. Her research interests include the early life microbiome, the human milk microbiome, and the developmental origins of health and disease. 

@lisafstinson

A/ Prof Hannah Rose Wardill

Social Media team; Founding Member

Affiliations: The University of Adelaide (Adelaide Medical School); South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI – Precision Medicine); The University Medical Centre Groningen (University of Groningen)

Hannah is an enthusiastic ECR leading a program of translational research focused on improving the QoL of people living with and beyond cancer. She uses a combination of in vitro, preclinical and clinical research to identify new ways of better supporting gut health in people undergoing cancer therapy, currently collaborating with Australasia’s largest stool bank to provide a new FMT service for people with blood cancer. 

Website | @hannahrwardill