Dr Nick West
Assistant Professor
Department of Microbiology
The University of Queensland
Australia
Biography
After completing my PhD in 2000, I began postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK, and then later at the Imperial College London. During this time I spent significant time collaborating and working at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. In 2004 I returned to Australia as a postdoctoral scientist at the Centenary Institute in Sydney where I began researching tuberculosis. I moved to The University of Queensland as a senior Lecturer and Research Fellow in mid 2012.
Research Interest
My Laboratory is committed to understanding the mechanisms by which Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes Tuberculosis (TB). One in three people in the world are infected with this bacterium, resulting in approximately 4,000 deaths every day. My lab utilises modern molecular genomic technologies to identify the genetic requirements for M. tuberculosis to cause TB. This information is being translated into the development of new therapies and control measures for TB. Research within the group will fall largely into one of the following three themes: Essential Gene Identification in M. tuberculosis, Understanding Latency and Targeted Drug Development.
