
The Enteric Virus group researches diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, investigating microbial pathogens and their role in diseases important in children, including acute gastroenteritis and Crohn’s disease. The group’s research aims to improve the knowledge of the role of enteric infections, through molecular epidemiology, genome sequencing and immunology.
The team's major research areas include identifying and characterising a strain of rotavirus circulating across Australia in children with gastroenteritis. It is also working to characterise gut virus and bacterial populations (microbiome) of children with early onset Crohn’s disease using cutting-edge next generation gene sequencing and analysis, to identify alterations in the microbiome associated with disease remission and recurrence.
Another research area is examining molecular epidemiology and genomic characterisation of caliciviruses and other new viruses isolated from children admitted to hospital with acute gastroenteritis.
Australian Rotavirus Surveillance Program
The Enteric Virus group runs the Australian Rotavirus Surveillance Program, which conducts a nationwide study on the rotavirus types circulating in children around Australia. This program undertakes molecular epidemiological studies on the rotavirus strains prevalent in Australia, which allows the researchers to track seasonal changes in rotavirus strains causing severe disease. In addition, the laboratory is also the WHO regional rotavirus reference laboratory and a WHO Collaborating Centre, and is involved with a range of molecular epidemiological studies to characterise the wildtype rotavirus strain population in several countries throughout the Western Pacific Region. The introduction and implementation of the national rotavirus vaccine program across Australia will increase the selective pressures on circulating wildtype strains, and may result in the emergence of new rotavirus strains. If this happens, these strains will likely impact vaccination programs. Understanding how vaccine introduction has impacted the circulating rotavirus population by altering the prevalence of common genotypes, selection of antigenic variants and emergence of new or novel types causing disease is the focus the group’s research. The genetic and biological mechanisms underlying vaccine escape will be studied, providing critical information about the circulating rotavirus population that will help maintain a successful ongoing rotavirus vaccine program.
Crohn’s Disease
Crohn’s disease has a complex etiology, where microbial factors are crucial in disease activation in individuals with a specific genetic predisposition. Emerging evidence suggests an increasingly important role of the gut microbiome in maintaining a healthy state. Disturbances of the gut microbial community underpin a number of diseases, including obesity, type II diabetes and colorectal cancer. Our research program will define the virome and bacterial microbiome of children with Crohn’s disease, using next generation sequence approaches. Metagenomic comparisons of the gut microbiome at disease onset, disease remission and disease recurrence will provide a unique opportunity to define specific microbial compositions and functions crucial in promoting gut health.
- Characterisation of the canine faecal virome in healthy dogs and dogs with acute diarrhoea using shotgun metagenomics. 2017
- Detection of viruses in weekly stool specimens collected during the first 2 years of life: A pilot study of five healthy Australian infants in the rotavirus vaccine era. 2017
- Etiology of Severe Acute Watery Diarrhea in Children in the Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network Using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction. 2017
- Microbial Factors Associated with Postoperative Crohn's Disease Recurrence. 2017
- Nutritional status, exclusive breastfeeding and management of acute respiratory illness and diarrhea in the first 6 months of life in infants from two regions of Indonesia. 2017
- Rotavirus shedding following administration of RV3-BB human neonatal rotavirus vaccine. 2017
- Rotavirus specific maternal antibodies and immune response to RV3-BB neonatal rotavirus vaccine in New Zealand. 2017
- The innate immune receptor MDA5 limits rotavirus infection but promotes cell death and pancreatic inflammation. 2017
- CNS-specific regulatory elements in brain-derived HIV-1 strains affect responses to latency-reversing agents with implications for cure strategies. 2016
- Emergence of a novel equine-like G3P[8] inter-genogroup reassortant rotavirus strain associated with gastroenteritis in Australian children. 2016
- Increased Rotavirus Prevalence in Diarrheal Outbreak Precipitated by Localized Flooding, Solomon Islands, 2014. 2016
- Options for improving effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines in developing countries. 2016
- A high burden of late-onset sepsis among newborns admitted to the largest neonatal unit in central Vietnam. 2015
- Are identity badges and lanyards in pediatrics potentially contaminated with viral pathogens? 2015
- Association between specific mucosa-associated microbiota in Crohn's disease at the time of resection and subsequent disease recurrence: a pilot study. 2015
- Australian Rotavirus Surveillance Program annual report, 2014. 2015
- Comparison of test specificities of commercial antigen-based assays and in-house PCR methods for detection of rotavirus in stool specimens. 2015
- Conquering rotavirus: from discovery to global vaccine implementation. 2015
- Emerging OP354-Like P[8] Rotaviruses Have Rapidly Dispersed from Asia to Other Continents. 2015
- Genome-Wide Evolutionary Analyses of G1P[8] Strains Isolated Before and After Rotavirus Vaccine Introduction. 2015
- HIV-1 transcriptional regulation in the central nervous system and implications for HIV cure research. 2015
- Morbidity and mortality in hospitalised neonates in central Vietnam. 2015
- Recent advances in characterizing the gastrointestinal microbiome in Crohn's disease: a systematic review. 2015
- Safety and immunogenicity of RV3-BB human neonatal rotavirus vaccine administered at birth or in infancy: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 2015
- Genetic characterization of a novel G3P[14] rotavirus strain causing gastroenteritis in 12 year old Australian child. 2014
- Outcomes of childhood asthma to the age of 50 years. 2014
- Rotavirus infection induces transient pancreatic involution and hyperglycemia in weanling mice. 2014
- SNP genotyping of animal and human derived isolates of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. 2014
- The association between childhood asthma and adult chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 2014
- Trends in eczema, rhinitis, and rye grass sensitization in a longitudinal asthma cohort. 2014
- Bacteriophages in gut samples from pediatric Crohn's disease patients: metagenomic analysis using 454 pyrosequencing. 2013
- Changes in the epidemiology of gastroenteritis in a paediatric short stay unit following the introduction of rotavirus immunisation. 2013
- Crohn’s disease: towards improving postsurgical outcomes. 2013
- Enteral nutrition in Crohn's disease: an underused therapy 2013
- Identification and characterization of antibody-binding epitopes on the norovirus GII.3 capsid. 2013
- Impact of ethnicity, geography, and disease on the microbiota in health and inflammatory bowel disease. 2013
- Pseudomonas infection in children with early-onset Crohn's disease: an association with a mutation close to PSMG1. 2013
- The importance of intergenic recombination in norovirus GII.3 evolution. 2013
- TLR4, IL10RA, and NOD2 mutation in paediatric Crohn's disease patients: an association with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and TLR4 and IL10RA expression. 2013
- Yellow is pale: The complications and challenges of late diagnosis of extrahepatic biliary atresia 2013
- Bacterial Dysbiosis Associated With Crohn’s Disease: Advances in Gut Metagenomic Analysis 2012
- Characterisation of a G9P[8] rotavirus strain identified during a gastroenteritis outbreak in Alice Springs, Australia post Rotarix (TM) vaccine introduction 2012
- Characterization of the gastrointestinal microbiota in health and inflammatory bowel disease. 2012
- Current knowledge and systematic review of viruses associated with Crohn's disease. 2012
- Group A rotavirus universal mass vaccination: how and to what extent will selective pressure influence prevalence of rotavirus genotypes? 2012
- Identification of Strains of RotaTeq Rotavirus Vaccine in Infants With Gastroenteritis Following Routine Vaccination 2012
- Rotavirus cerebellitis: new aspects to an old foe? 2012
- Rotavirus genotypes in Malaysia and Universal rotavirus vaccination 2012
- Selection and evolutionary analysis in the nonstructural protein NSP2 of rotavirus A 2012
- Surveillance and molecular characterization of group a rotaviruses in goroka, Papua New Guinea 2012
- Case-control evaluation of the effectiveness of the G1P[8] human rotavirus vaccine during an outbreak of rotavirus G2P[4] infection in central Australia. 2011
- Characterization of norovirus strains in Australian children from 2006 to 2008: Prevalence of recombinant strains. 2011
- Comparative evolution of GII.3 and GII.4 norovirus over a 31-year period 2011
- Distribution of Rotavirus Genotypes After Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccines, Rotarix (R) and RotaTeq (R), into the National Immunization Program of Australia 2011
- Exploring the Zoonotic Potential of Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis through Comparative Genomics 2011
- Expression profile of genes involved in pathogenesis of paediatric Crohn's disease. 2011
- Identification of an Antibody Binding Epitope on the Rotavirus Non-Structural Protein NSP2 Using Phage Display Analysis. 2011
- Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis in Children with Early-onset Crohn's Disease: A Longitudinal Follow-up Study 2011
- Phylogenetic analysis of rotavirus A NSP2 gene sequences and evidence of intragenic recombination. 2011
- Rare Rotavirus Strains in Children with Severe Diarrhea, Malaysia 2011
- Reduction in Rotavirus-associated Acute Gastroenteritis Following Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccine Into Australia's National Childhood Vaccine Schedule 2011
- Uniformity of rotavirus strain nomenclature proposed by the Rotavirus Classification Working Group (RCWG) 2011