Contact
Biography
Dr Egan studied at the University of Melbourne where she received a BSc(hons) in Microbiology and Immunology in 2002 followed by a PhD in conjunction with the CSIRO/Australian Animal Health Laboratories. Dr Egan's first Post-Doctoral appointment was with Streptococcal Research Group with Professor James Leigh at the University of Oxford. This was followed by a Post-doctoral Research Fellow position through the School of Veterinary Medicine and Sciences, whilst based at the Institute for Animal Health. In 2011, Dr Egan re-located to SVMS and was appointed a Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology in 2014.
Teaching Summary
Dr Egan teaches on a number of modules throughout the School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine and Science involving both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Her teaching philosophy focuses… read more
Research Summary
My research interests mainly includes investigating host/pathogen dynamics in bacterial infections and the identification of virulence determinants for vaccine/diagnostic test development. Our most… read more
Recent Publications
Dr Egan teaches on a number of modules throughout the School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine and Science involving both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Her teaching philosophy focuses on student engagement, research skills and integrity and communication using a combination of traditional and digital learning platforms and resources.
Current Research
My research interests mainly includes investigating host/pathogen dynamics in bacterial infections and the identification of virulence determinants for vaccine/diagnostic test development. Our most recent work focuses on vaccine development for Streptococcus suis infections of pigs and Streptococcus agalaciae infections of fish. Recent work also includes mastitis based studies of Streptococcus uberis in dairy cattle and the evaluation of the role of sortase anchored proteins in the virulence of S. uberis. and the comparison of virulent and avirulent strains of S. uberis to detect pathogen & host factors critical to the pathogenesis of bovine mastitis.
Current work includes the functional annotation of Streptococcal genomes by analysing the effect of gene disruption using high density DNA sequencing and identifying specific genes and proteins essential for virulence. I am also interested in the dynamics of the host bacterial microbiome in disease prevention, opportunistic infection and immune tolerance. It also includes an ecology-based study of Streptococcus uberis carriage and a potential infection route for mastitis. .
A new area of research we are currently working on involves the effect of pollution from antibiotic, bacterial and heavy metal contamination on food security and addresses factors in pig, cattle and fish related health in terms of production and the health and welfare of these animals.
Another aspect of my work involves the analysis of the microenvironment of tumors and identification of factors for immune-mediated tumor control, particularly investigating neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia.
Past Research
Previously I worked on Johne's disease and its causative agent Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in cattle, sheep and goats. Aspects of this work included isolation and characterisation of in vivo strains of M. paratuberculosis by using proteomics based methods including 2DE gel separation and mass spectrometry.