College of Sciences staff by location (campus)

Contact details +6492136618

Associate Professor Olin Silander PhD

Associate Professor in Molecular Cell Biology

School of Natural Sciences

I work on microbial genomics, microbial evolution, and rapid pathogen diagnostics.

Professional

Contact details

Ph: +64 (0)9 414 0800 ext. 43618
Location: Building 20
Campus: Albany

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy - University of California (2005)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

I am interested in using high throughput DNA sequencing methods to understand microbial evolution and genomics as well as implement novel pathogen diagnostics.

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Biological Adaptation (060303): Biological Sciences (060000): Epigenetics (incl. Genome Methylation and Epigenomics) (060404): Evolutionary Biology (060300): Genetics (060400): Genomics (060408): Infectious Agents (060502): Microbial Ecology (060504): Microbial Genetics (060503): Microbiology (060500): Molecular Evolution (060409): Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis (060309): Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics (060411)

Keywords

Microbiology

Genomics

Evolution

DNA Sequencing

Research Projects

Current Projects

Project Title: The Stuff Memories are Made of: How Bacteria Remember and Learn from Environmental Signals

Date Range: 2018 - 2022

Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand

Project Team:

A/Pro Olin Silander - Project Leader

Completed Projects

Project Title: Rapid diagnosis and genome sequencing to follow Cov-2019 outbreak

Date Range: 2020 - 2020

Funding Body: Health Research Council of New Zealand

Project Team:

A/Pro Olin Silander - Project Leader
Dr Nikki Freed - Project Leader

Teaching and Supervision

Teaching Statement

Genetics and Evolution 203.210 (Co-ordinator)

Genome Science 203.311 (Co-ordinator)

DNA Technology 203.310

Contact Supervisor

Graduate Supervision Statement

I haed a very cross-disciplinary lab, and have had collaborations outside the Molecular and Cell Biology group, inluding faculty working in Ecology and Evolution, Food Tech, and Statistics.

Current Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

Tyler Kolisnik - Doctor of Philosophy
Genomic and Microbial Biomarker Discovery in Colorectal Cancer using Random Forests
Kelly Hong - Doctor of Philosophy
Quantifying the predictability of the emergence of antibiotic resistance in a model strain and environmental isolates of Escherichia coli.

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

2023 - Georgia Breckell - Doctor of Philosophy
Characterisation of epigenomic variation in natural isolates of E. coli
2022 - Arielle Kae Sulit - Doctor of Philosophy
Microbiome and Host Immune Responses in Colorectal Cancer Development and Radiotherapy Response
2021 - Marketa Vlkova - Doctor of Philosophy
Natural variation in bacterial gene regulation