Our mission is to establish microbial genomics as a tool for routine clinical and public health microbiology in Australia.
The power of microbial genomics to transform clinical and public health microbiology is being realised globally, with microbial sequencing improving capacity in many important areas such as disease diagnosis, outbreak detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance.
Unlike countries such as the US and UK, Australia is yet to invest significantly in the application of microbial genomics for routine public health microbiology.
Doherty Applied Microbial Genomics
Within the framework of collaborative partnerships, Doherty Applied Microbial Genomics offers sequencing capacity, established expertise in bioinformatics and critical training to undertake microbial genomics research, which will help laboratories across Australia to breach barriers that are restricting access to this new cutting edge technology.
The initiative is funded by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Melbourne, led by Prof Benjamin Howden (Medical Director), Prof Timothy Stinear (Scientific Director) and A/ Prof Torsten Seemann (Lead Bioinformatician), who are recognised as global leaders in the fields of public health and clinical microbiology, microbial genomics and bioinformatics.
Our alignment with the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL) and our established expertise in bioinformatics and capacity to perform microbial genomics research make us uniquely placed to perform and facilitate research in this rapidly evolving area of clinical and public health microbiology.
