STAFF PROFILE
Associate Professor Anna Walduck
Position:
Associate Professor
College / Portfolio:
STEM College
School / Department:
STEM|School of Science
Phone:
+61399257145
Email:
anna.walduck@rmit.edu.au
Campus:
Bundoora West
Contact me about:
Research supervision
Dr Walduck teaches and co-ordinates courses in Medical Microbiology. Her research interests include understanding the pathogenesis of infections, vaccine development, and treatment and prevention of severe sepsis.
Research Interests
Dr Walduck’s research focuses on understanding the inflammation and pathogenesis caused by significant human and animal pathogens. Her group chiefly employs bacterial pathogens Helicobacter pylori and Staphylococcus aureus as model organisms to address questions on the interaction between host and pathogen in chronic and acute infection.
Examples of research projects addressed by her group include:
- Understanding the mechanisms underlying vaccine-induced protection against H. pylori
- Mechanisms of altered gastric barrier function in H. pylori infection
- Aspirin as an adjunct therapy for severe sepsis
Teaching and supervision
Dr Walduck coordinates and teaches courses in advanced Medical Microbiology These courses are part of the Bachelor of Applied Science, Masters in Applied Science and Masters of Laboratory Science programs
She also supervises students undertaking research projects in infectious disease and infection biology for undergraduate and post graduate research projects, as well as postgraduate Masters by Research and PhD students.
Competitive Research Funding
- 2010- 2015 Raghavan S and Walduck AK. Swedish STINT Institutional Grants program. Mechanisms of vaccine- induced protection against Helicobacter pylori
- 2009-20011 NHMRC Project grant, Walduck & Wijburg Project Grant, Dissecting the role of the adipokine leptin in control of the inflammatory response to Helicobacter pylori.
- 2007-2009 Sobey Drummond & Walduck, NHMRC Project grant, Is NADPH oxidase the trigger for accelerated atherosclerosis caused by bacteria?
- 2005-2008 Walduck, NHMRC New Investigator grant, Investigations on the mechanism of vaccine-induced protection against the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori.
Collaborations
- Dr Odilia Wijburg- University of Melbourne, Mechanisms of vaccine-induced immunity against Helicobacter pylori
- Dr Sukanya Raghavan- University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Mechanisms of vaccine-induced immunity against Helicobacter pylori
- Assoc. Prof Damon Eisen and Emma McBryde- Victorian Infectious Disease Service, Melbourne Health- Can aspirin improve outcomes in severe sepsis?
- Dr Paul Bertrand- RMIT School of Medical Sciences, Inflammation and serotonin release in intestinal inflammation.
- Prof. Vipul Bansal- RMIt School of Applied Sciences, Novel Materials for prevention of wound infections.
- Course coordinator:
- Medical Microbiology 1 ONPS2118/1054
- Medical Microbiology 2 ONPS2120/1048
- Bacterial Infections ONPS1045
- Discipline coordinator, MEDS Projects Microbiology (MEDS 2120/2140)
- Head, Host- pathogen interactions group
- Postgraduate supervisor
BSc (Hons1) University of Queensland 1990
PhD University of Queensland, August 1995 “The Delivery of Antigens for Vaccination”
- Senior Lecturer in Applied Microbiology/Head Host Pathogen Interactions Laboratory, 2012 to present.
- Senior Research Fellow, Group Leader, University of Melbourne, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 2005-2011
- Research Fellow, Team Leader, Max-Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin Germany, 1999-2005
- Research Officer, Queensland Institute for Medical Research, Malaria and Arbovirus Unit, Brisbane QLD 1996-98
- Immunologist, R&D, Mallinckrodt Veterinary, Middlessex, UK 1995-96
Member Australian Society for Immunology
- Idowu, S.,Bertrand, P.,Walduck, A. (2022). Homeostasis and Cancer Initiation: Organoids as Models to Study the Initiation of Gastric Cancer In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23, 1 - 17
- Walduck, A.,Sangwan, P.,Anh Vo, Q.,Ratcliffe, J.,White, J.,Muir, B.,Tran, N. (2020). Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus skin infection in vivo using rifampicin loaded lipid nanoparticles In: RSC Advances, 10, 33608 - 33619
- Francis, J.,Skakic, I.,Dekiwadia, C.,Shukla, R.,Taki, A.,Walduck, A.,Smooker, P. (2020). Solid lipid nanoparticle carrier platform containing synthetic TLR4 agonist mediates non-viral DNA vaccine delivery In: Vaccines, 8, 1 - 16
- Akter, S.,Jeverstam, F.,Lundgren, A.,Magnusson, M.,Walduck, A.,Qadri, F.,Bhuiyan, T.,Raghavan, S. (2019). The frequency of circulating integrin a4ß7+ cells correlates with protection against Helicobacter pylori infection in immunized mice In: Helicobacter, 24, 1 - 12
- Walduck, A.,Raghavan, S. (2019). Immunity and Vaccine Development Against Helicobacter pylori In: Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 1149, 257 - 275
- Soliman, C.,Walduck, A.,Yuriev, E.,Richards, J.,Cywes-Bentley, C.,Pier, G.,Ramsland, P. (2018). Structural basis for antibody targeting of the broadly expressed microbial polysaccharide poly-N-acetylglucosamine In: Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293, 5079 - 5089
- Sjökvist Ottsjö, L.,Jeverstam, F.,Yrlid, L.,Wenzel, A.,Walduck, A.,Raghavan, S. (2017). Induction of mucosal immune responses against Helicobacter pylori infection after sublingual and intragastric route of immunization In: Immunology, 150, 172 - 183
- Bertrand, P.,Polglaze, K.,Chen, H.,Sandow, S.,Walduck, A.,Jenkins, T.,Lomax, A.,Liu, L. (2016). Excitability and synaptic transmission in the enteric nervous system: Does diet play a role? In: The Enteric Nervous System: 30 Years Later, Springer, Basel, Switzerland
- Walduck, A.,Andersen, L.,Raghavan, S. (2015). Inflammation, immunity, and vaccines for Helicobacter pylori Infection In: Helicobacter, 20, 17 - 25
- Sjökvist Ottsjö, L.,Flach, C.,Nilsson, S.,de W Malefyt, R.,Walduck, A.,Raghavan, S. (2015). Defining the roles of IFN-gamma and IL-17A in inflammation and protection against Helicobacter pylori infection In: PLoS ONE, 10, 1 - 20
Note: Supervision projects since 2004
4 PhD Current Supervisions5 PhD Completions
Inflammation and Pathogenesis caused by human pathogens. Bacterial pathogens Helicobacter pylori, Chlamydia pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus as model organisms. Mechanisms underlying vaccine-induced protection against H. pylori, Mechanisms of altered gastric barrier function in H. pylori infection and Can Aspirin prevent severe sepsis?
- Reducing the health and economic burden of Campylobacter using a live vaccine. Funded by: ARC Linkage Project Grants 2019 from (2021 to 2025)
- Development of a live vaccine for gut health in poultry. Funded by: ARC Linkage Grant 2016 from (2016 to 2021)