Professor Jasna Rakonjac staff profile picture

Contact details +6469517716

Professor Jasna Rakonjac PhD

Professor in Microbiology

Doctoral Mentor Supervisor
School of Food Technology and Natural Sciences

I am a microbiologist / molecular biologist / biotechnologist / biochemist. My research has emphasis on technological innovations that will find their ultimate applications in medicine, veterinary science, agriculture and mitigation of greenhouse gas emission.

Expertise credentials / areas:

  • Inventor, novel system for production of bacteriophage-derived nanorods.
  • Inventor, novel antibacterial combinations.
  • Co-inventor, new tools for phage display technology.
  • Co-inventor, gene for the Serum Opacity Factor of Streptococcus pyogenes and its use in detection of important human serum health indicators: High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL or "good cholesterol") and fibronectin.

Research fields:

  • Antibacterial synergies and resistance.
  • Phage display technology and applications in microbiology, biomedicine and bionanotechnology.
  • Bacterial interactions with environment, host and immune system - focus on probiotic bacteria and rumen microbial communities.

Filamentous phage biology, phage display, bionanotechnology; antibacterial development.

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Professional

Contact details

  • Ph: 069517716
    Location: ScTC4.26, Science Tower C
    Campus: Turitea

Qualifications

  • Master of Sciences - University of Belgrade (1989)
  • Doctor of Philosophy - Rockefeller University (1998)

Certifications and Registrations

  • Licence, Mentor Supervisor, Massey University

Research Expertise

Research Interests

The central theme of my research programme is biology of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages or phages) and their biotechnology applications in medicine and agriculture. Phage display and other methods are used in my research programme to study protein-protein interactions in cell-signalling and host-bacterial interactions. My key research activities are:

Phage display technology, agricultural and medical applications

By changing the shape and size of the bacteriophage, and eliminating the phage genes, we have produced a novel type of functionalised biological nanoparticle, thereby harnessing phages for applications in vaccine development, diagnostics and tissue targeting.

Through mastering bacteriophage biology, my laboratory has developed a new technology to identify, among thousands of bacterial proteins, those that have specific functions of interest. Using this approach, we have discovered unique surface proteins in probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (commercial name DR20) that may be involved in bacterial association with host cells. This methodology has been extended to the whole microbial community, representing a novel approach to understand key agricultural and environmental processes such as forage digestion and methane emission (in collaboration with AgResearch).

Antibiotic development

The study of unusual "secreted" phages of E. coli has led to characterisation of a gigantic gated filamentous phage- and toxin-secreting channel in E. coli and hospital-acquired pathogen Klebsiella. Manipulation of the channel gate or valve renders Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria sensitive to widely used antibiotics, the fact that can be utilized to overcome antibiotic resistance.

Thematics

Health and Well-being, Future Food Systems

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Bacteriology (060501): Biochemistry and Cell Biology (060100): Biological Sciences (060000): Cell Metabolism (060104): Cellular Interactions (incl. Adhesion, Matrix, Cell Wall) (060106): Infectious Agents (060502): Microbial Ecology (060504): Microbial Genetics (060503): Microbiology (060500): Protein Trafficking (060108): Receptors and Membrane Biology (060110): Synthetic Biology (060113): Virology (060506)

Keywords

phage display

bionanotechnology

bacteriophage

antibiotic discovery

bacteriology

bacterial surfaces

Research Projects

Current Projects

Project Title: Genetic and structural basis of antibiotic resistance spread: targeting a bacteria-bacteriophage partnership

Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) and conjugation are the key vehicles accelerating spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria, with a looming threat that the humanity will stop being able to treat infectious diseases by 2050. Filamentous bacteriophages (phages) gain access to bacteria via a conjugative or “sex” pilus and are secreted out of the bacterium through a molecular machine embedded in the membrane. While much is known about a specific (Ff) filamentous bacteriophage of E. coli and the conjugative (F) plasmid-encoded proteins, very little is known about thousands of other diverse bacteriophages and conjugative plasmids involved in antibiotic resistance spread, or conserved bacterial proteins required for these processes. We propose to identify conserved bacterial proteins required for bacteriophage reproduction and conjugation as targets, to enable new strategies for blocking the spread of antibiotic resistance among gut bacteria during antibiotic treatment of human patients or animals. Development of agents targeting antibiotic spread will have potential to prevent dissemination of such resistance amongst the communities and animal herds, and environmental spill from the sewage systems or animal excretions. This work will also inform the use of bacteriophages in treatment of bacterial infections, bypassing need for antibiotics.
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Date Range: 2026 - 2029

Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand

Project Team:

Project Title: New technologies enabling sensitive multiplex rapid antigen test (RAT) for bovine mastitis

Challenge: Acute bovine mastitis affects as many as one million animals annually in Aotearoa. The only tests capable of determining the root cause of the infection are expensive laboratory-based assays with a 24-48 h turnaround, so typically animals are treated immediately with antibiotics by default. This excessive, and often ineffective, use of antibiotics is expensive, suboptimal for animal health, and contributes to increasing antibiotic resistance. Scientific approach: The solution to this challenge is a rapid, on-site test capable of identifying the specific bacterial group causing the infection, to inform effective treatments. No such test currently exists. In this project we will combine novel microbiological, immunological and biotechnology strategies to develop a world-first, highly-sensitive and specific, rapid (<30 minutes) on-farm test to distinguish between the most common bacterial groups causing bovine mastitis. Team: The PI is a global leader in bacterial surface molecules and phage display technology (Jasna Rakonjac, Massey University). Anton Pernthaner (Koru) is a global leader in veterinary immunology and diagnostics and Scott McDougall (ANEXA) is a global leader in clinical aspects of bovine mastitis. Alignment with Vision Mātauranga principles will be guided by Dr John Waldon (Tūhoe, Mātaatua, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Pōrou, Te Tai Rāwhiti). .
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Date Range: 2025 - 2027

Funding Bodies: MBIE: Endeavour Fund: Smart Ideas; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Project Team:

Completed Projects

Project Title: Dipstick assay for direct detection of COVID-19 (antigen) using novel antibodies and biological nanorods

Date Range: 2020 - 2021

Funding Body: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Project Team:

Project Title: PSAF: System for production of protein-DNA nanorods

Date Range: 2016 - 2022

Funding Bodies: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Massey Ventures Ltd

Project Team:

Project Title: Overcoming antibiotic resistance

This project aims to develop novel antibacterials that will overcome the current inability to cure stubborn or recurrent infections by Gram-negative bacteria such as Klebsiella, uropathogenic E. coli, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Haemophillus, Moraxella, Pasteurella, Francisella, Acinetobacter and others. These are community- or hospital-acquired or zoonotic infections affecting all ages and both genders, causing pneumonia, food poisoning, and a range of infections of skin, wounds, medical implants, middle ear, eye and urinary tract.
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Date Range: 2012 - ongo

Funding Bodies: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Massey Ventures Ltd; Massey University

Project Team:

Teaching and Supervision

Teaching Statement

Mentoring a new generation of scientists

During my tenure at Massey University (2003-2026) I have mentored as the primary supervisor to completion:

19 PhD students

19 MSc students

  7 BScHons students

10 PgDip students

16 PhD graduates are active researchers, Of those, 10 are academics, group leaders or emerging scienctists in New Zealand and overseas, while 6 are postdoctoral fellows.

Contact Supervisor

Graduate Supervision Statement

My strategy is to mentor, rather than supervise postgraduate students, 

Mentor's role is to foster students' development into independent emerging scientists.


Professor Jasna Rakonjac is available for Masters and Doctorial supervision.

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Main Supervisor 2 19
Co-supervisor 0 8

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • Rouhnaz Boreiry - Doctor of Philosophy
    Identification of genes required for horizontal antibiotic resistance transfer by conjugation
  • Cathy Davenport - Doctor of Philosophy
    Biological nanorod-based diagnostic assays and vaccines

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • 2021 - Rayen Leon Quezada - Doctor of Philosophy
    Characterisation of the filamentous bacteriophages end-caps
  • 2021 - Catrina Olivera - Doctor of Philosophy
    Synergistic triple combination antibiotic therapy for Gram-negative bacterial infections
  • 2019 - Van Hung Vuong Le - Doctor of Philosophy
    Antibiotic Combinations to Tackle Gram-negative Bacterial Pathogens
  • 2019 - Marina Rajic - Doctor of Philosophy
    Development and applications of filamentous phage-derived particles in immunotherapy and diagnostics
  • 2016 - Yang Li - Doctor of Philosophy
    Comparative genomics of rumen methanogens
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  • 2016 - Preeti Raju - Doctor of Philosophy
    Homoacetogenesis as an alternative hydrogen sink in the rumen
  • 2016 - Nikola Palevich - Doctor of Philosophy
    Comparative genomics of Butyrivibrio and Pseudobutyrivibrio from the rumen
  • 2016 - Wesley Wen - Doctor of Philosophy
    Identification and functional characterisation of a novel surface protein complex of Lactobacillus rhamnosus
  • 2015 - Julian Spagnuolo - Doctor of Philosophy
    Extracytoplasmic Stress Responses Induced by a Model Secretin
  • 2015 - Sofia Khanum - Doctor of Philosophy
    Characterization of the secretins, large outer membrane channels of Gram-negative bacteria
  • 2014 - Milica Ciric - Doctor of Philosophy
    Metasecretome phage display: A new approach for mining surface and secreted proteins from microbial communities
  • 2014 - Sadia Sattar - Doctor of Philosophy
    Filamentous phage-derived nano-rods for applications in diagnostics and vaccines
  • 2013 - Samantha Noel - Doctor of Philosophy
    Cultivation and community composition analysis of plant-adherent rumen bacteria
  • 2013 - Christopher Kirk - Doctor of Philosophy
    The DELLA Protein Family and Gibberellin Signal Transduction
  • 2010 - David Sheerin - Doctor of Philosophy
    Characterisation of the interactions of RGL1; a negative regulator of gibberellin signalling
  • 2010 - Nicholas Bennett - Doctor of Philosophy
    Unlocking the M13 (fl and fd) virion: Investigation into the role of the pIII C-domain of F specific filamentous bacteriophage in infection
  • 2009 - Carl Yeoman - Doctor of Philosophy
    Characterisation of Butyrivibrio megaplasmids
  • 2009 - Dragana Jankovic - Doctor of Philosophy
    Direct selection and phage display of Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 secretome
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Co-supervisor of:

  • 2021 - Linda Oemcke - Doctor of Philosophy
    The effect of weaning foods substrate on segmented filamentous bacteria in infant small intestinal immune barrier maturation
  • 2021 - Yi-Hsuan Tu - Doctor of Philosophy
    A novel and environmentally friendly method for preserving and depilating sheepskin: Comprehensive physical, biochemical and molecular analyses
  • 2019 - Sean Bisset - Doctor of Philosophy
    Understanding the mechanism of action of the glycosylated bacteriocin glycocin F
  • 2018 - Shirin Ghods - Doctor of Philosophy
    Investigation of Biosynthesis of Exopolysaccharides within the Biofilm Matrix of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae
  • 2017 - Patricia Rubio Reyes - Doctor of Philosophy
    Novel polyhydroxyalkanoate beads for use as a vaccine against tuberculosis
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  • 2017 - Filomena Ng - Doctor of Philosophy
    Identification and functional characterization of adhesins involved in attachment of methanogens to rumen protozoa
  • 2017 - Muhammad Faisal - Doctor of Philosophy
    Functional Characterisation of Constitutive Expresser of Pathogenesis-Related Genes 5
  • 2011 - Milena Mitic - Doctor of Philosophy
    Investigation of the molecular basis of symbiosis between Epichloe festucae and perennial ryegrass

Media and Links

Other Links

  • Massey University BSC, Microbiology Major - Our Microbiology Major reflects the strength of Massey University in the field of Microbiology, with over thirty internationally recognised Microbiologists contributing to teaching and supervision.
  • Jasna Rakonjac - Main themes in my research are filamentous phage biology, phage display, bionanotechnology and antibacterials.
  • Google Scholar - Google Scholar Citations