David Thomas

I initially began my tertiary education looking to study zoology, however gradually drifted towards molecular biology in search of more thorough answers. I completed my PhD studying Plant Biotechnology before a post-doc with David Jans at Monash University looking at how viruses subvert nuclear transport to facilitate infection. In collaboration with local and international research groups, we identified anti-viral compounds through computational, high-throughput, and SAR-based screens.

This time instilled in me a fascination with the unique ways pathogens have found to manipulate host cells during infection, often managing to produce large scale changes in cellular function while simultaneously avoiding, and often preventing, premature cell death. Beyond targeting these mechanisms for the development of novel therapeutics, the potential to repurpose these pathogenic factors as molecular biology tools or treatments for other diseases is also of great interest.

I am now working in the lab of Hayley Newton, studying the obligate intracellular pathogen and causative agent of Q fever, Coxiella Burnetii. Coxiella replicates inside specialised lysosomal vacuoles, thriving in the extreme conditions. This bacteria uses a suite of >100 effector proteins to significantly modify the host while avoiding cell death. Just how the effectors accomplish this is largely unknown, however, and we are continuing to expose the complex and interconnected mechanisms of Coxiella pathogenesis.