Principal Researcher

Distinguished Professor Ian Paulsen
ARC Laureate Fellow

Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2109

Research Interests

My research interests have focused on understanding microbial physiology and evolution, in particular in utilizing "big picture" or global approaches such as genome sequencing, bioinformatics, microarray analysis, and high throughput cloning, gene knockout, and phenotypic screening. My research interests have been focused in three broad areas:

Genome diversity, metagenomics and lateral gene transfer
System biology analysis of membrane transport and metabolism
Applying Genomics to Medicine

Education

Ph.D., Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia & University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 1994
B.Sc.(Hons), Microbiology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 1989

Experience

2014 - present: Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
2007 - 2014: Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
2007 - present: Adjunct Associate Investigator, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD, USA
2003 - 2007: Associate Investigator, The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, MD, USA
2000 - 2003: Assistant Investigator, The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, MD, USA
2000 - 2007: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Biology, Baltimore, USA
1998 - 1999: Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
1997 - 1998: C.J. Martin Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney,Sydney, Australia
1995 - 1997: C.J. Martin Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Honors/Awards/Societies

2014 - present: ARC Laureate Fellow
2007 - present: ISI Highly Cited Author
2001 - 2004: Member, Faculty of 1000
1995 - 1999: C.J. Martin Fellowship; National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia
1990 - 1994: Sir Ernest Fields Memorial Scholarship

I am a Senior Editor for the Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology (1999-2011). I have previously served as an Editor for the Journal of Microbial Ecology and the Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Journal of General Microbiology. I am a founding editorial board member for two new journals:

BMC Microbial Informatics and Experimentation
Mobile Genetic Elements.

I have been a member of the organizing or scientific committees for various conferences including:

First Gordon Conference on Multidrug Efflux Pumps (2002)
Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference (2001, 2002, 2003)
Second Florence Conference on Biolog Phenotype Microarrays (2010)
BacPath (2011)
Pseudomonas (2011)
Ninth Annual RECOMB Workshop on Comparative Genomic (2011).

Public Outreach

I have participated in a variety of public outreach activities to foster integration of research and education, and to make scientific research more accessible to the general public:

Science High Achievers Dinner: a lecture given by myself on the basics of microbial genetics, to a number of talented high school high students, organized by Macquarie University, November 2011.
Sea of Genes: an exhibition on marine genomics at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, California which was organized as part of an NSF-funded sequencing led by myself and Brian Palenik at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Interview on the ABC Science Show: Interview with Robyn Williams on the Enterococcus genome
Boosting BioControl: Very short interview on MicrobeWorld Radio.