Contact details

• Location: C3.19, Science Tower C
  Campus: Manawatu

Qualifications

• Master of Science with Distinction - University of Canterbury (1999)
• Doctor of Philosophy - Massey University (2009)

Certifications and Registrations

• Licence, Supervisor, Massey University

Research Interests

• Microbial community structure of animal and human microbiota
• Methanogens and their impact on enteric methane emission
• Microbiota that is responsible for fibre degradation, propionate production and protein metabolism. Specifically, a focus is on the identification of the involvement of microbes available in culture (Hungate 1000 project)
• Decoding interactions of segmented filamentous bacteria with the host 

Research Opportunities

• Microbial community of biofeed for marbling of beef meat  (01/08/2020) Microbiological and genomic characterization of samples of micro-biofeed mixtures used to produce marble beef and isolation of dominant bacteria strains.

Thematics

Health and Well-being, Future Food Systems

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Bacteriology (060501): Biological Sciences (060000): Genetics (060400): Genomics (060408): Microbial Ecology (060504): Microbial Genetics (060503): Microbiology (060500)

Keywords

microbiology, microbial ecology, metagenomics, genomics, phage display, host-microbial interactions 

Consultancy

• December 2017 - Current - Pure Nature Pasture Ltd
  Training of PNP staff in microbiology techniques and leading microbiome studies related to animal feed

Languages

• Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian
  Last used: current
  Spoken ability: Excellent
  Written ability: Excellent

Teaching Statement

My primary goal as an educator is to create a classroom environment in which students can achieve their potential and learn to think as scientist.

The traditional lecture is an important component of any of my classes. I usually introduce “in lecture questions” which help focus students’ attention and boost the lecture attendance. I believe that these questions solidify acquired knowledge of previous topic and give students a good introduction into the subsequent topic. 

One of my prerogatives in undergraduate teaching is to enable students to experience a setting that corresponds to “real-life” situation in science jobs. To achieve this, I have designed project-based laboratory for the Environmental Microbiology (162.304) students. They are only given samples, starting literature and final questions to answer in the form of a report. Students are in charge of planning the experiments, time management, choosing appropriate methods and equipment, and participating in the teamwork. In student evaluations for the past two years, multiple students wrote that lab project stood out as one of the most memorable and effective.

Graduate Supervision Statement

I have closely mentored >15 postgraduate students. The very first thing that I try to encourage them to do is to question everything, and I strive to do the same. Asking questions hinting at the limitations of a study can help a student logically deduce the next step in refining it. My expectations of all postgraduate students are that they engage in rigorous literature reviewing and integration of the acquired knowledge into their research project, as required, throughout the study programme. This process teaches students to critically review the relevant articles and help with modifying their original hypotheses, if appropriate. As a postgraduate supervisor, my practice is to have an open door policy and weekly meetings, and monthly meetings with all co-supervisors.

Besides thinking as a scientist, postgraduate students should be introduced to important components of a science job beyond the bench, such as grant and manuscript writing, budget management, and conference presentations. My students are encouraged to apply for scholarships, travel funds and awards as a practice for grant proposal writing. To practise budget management students are given estimated budget for each year and expected to monitor the consumables expenditure. Another important aspect of scientific career is publishing. I encourage each PhD student to publish three peer-reviewed journal articles (one literature mini-review in the first year of study and two original research articles from results of the doctorate) and present their work at national and international conferences.

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• Wen Lim - Doctor of Philosophy
  Unravelling the feline and canine microbiome.

Co-supervisor of:

• Dan Wang - Doctor of Philosophy
  Biofilm Formation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

• 2017 - Filomena Ng - Doctor of Philosophy
  Identification and functional characterization of adhesins involved in attachment of methanogens to rumen protozoa

Co-supervisor of:

• 2023 - Laura Payling - Doctor of Philosophy
  The Links Between Human Breath Methane, Dietary Fibre Digestion, and the Gut Microbiota
• 2022 - Yiying Huang - Doctor of Philosophy
  The spore formation and toxin production in biofilms of Bacillus cereus
• 2022 - Samuel Mahoney-Kurpe - Doctor of Philosophy
  Identification and characterisation of rumen bacteria with prominent roles in the ruminal metabolism of forages
• 2022 - Jorge Bresciano Kauffman - Doctor of Philosophy
  The role of microorganisms in shaping the nectar chemistry of Mānuka plants (Leptospermum scoparium)
• 2021 - Yi-Hsuan Tu - Doctor of Philosophy
  A novel and environmentally friendly method for preserving and depilating sheepskin: Comprehensive physical, biochemical and molecular analyses
• view more...
• 2018 - Sandeep Kumar - Doctor of Philosophy
  Physiology of rumen bacteria associated with low methane emitting sheep
• view less...