Wyres lab

Bacterial population genomics and metabolism

Team

Group Leader – Associate Professor Kelly Wyres

Kelly is a computational microbiologist with a background in bacterial population genetics and genomics. She is Associate Professor and Research Group Leader at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash University, and Deputy Director for the Monash University Centre to Impact AMR. She co-Leads the Department of Infectious Diseases Genomics program and is also co-Lead for the KlebNET Genomic Surveillance Platform, a multi-national consortium working to develop and harmonise resources that support global genomic surveillance for Klebsiella and Escherichia coli. Kelly has received numerous research funding awards, including a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Investigator Grant, Australian Research Council Discovery Project awards and Gates Foundation Investment Grants. In 2024 Kelly was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher and in 2025 received the Australian Society for Microbiology’s Frank Fenner Award. Read about Kelly’s research journey here.

Research Fellows

Dr Tom Stanton

Tom is a postdoctoral researcher working on K. pneumoniae sero-epidemiology and the ongoing development of our tools for typing capsule and lipopolysaccharide loci from bacterial genome data- Kaptive and Kaptive Web. This includes improving Kaptive’s accuracy for prediction of K. pneumoniae capsule phenotypes. Tom holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Ms HINA SALIMUDDIN

Hina is a data management specialist leading a community effort to collate and curate a standardised meta-data collection for publicly available Klebsiella genome sequences. Hina holds a Master’s in Public Health and International Health from The University of New South Wales.

Dr Naoise Mcgarry

Naoise is a postdoctoral researcher working on Klebsiella oxytoca population genomics, including exploration of capsule and outer-lipopolysaccharide diversity. Naoise holds a PhD in Clinical Microbiology from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

PhD, Masters and Honours Students

Ms Kalani Paranagama

Kalani is a final year PhD student using metabolic modelling to investigate the association between K. pneumoniae species complex metabolic traits and ecological niche. Kalani previously completed a Masters of Data Science and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) at Monash University, focussing on Shigella sonnei genomics.

Mr Hassan al-mana

Hassan is a final year PhD student working to identify K. pneumoniae genomic and metabolic factors associated with isolates that cause urinary tract infections in hospitalised patients. Hassan is co-supervised and based with Prof Kathryn Holt, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Ms jiahui li

Jiahui is a PhD student investigating the composition of K. pneumoniae surface membranes and the impact of porin mutations. Jiahui is co-supervised and based with Prof Trevor Lithgow, Monash University, Australia.

Ms Duoji Pei

Duoji (Alina) is a Masters project student exploring Enterobacter sp. surface polysaccharide diversity, and its relationship to phage susceptibility. Duoji is co-supervised by Dr Dinesh Subedi, Monash University, Australia.

Ms Monisha Durgan

Monisha is a Masters project student using experimental approaches to explore bacteriocin production among K. pneumoniae. Monisha is co-supervised and based with Dr Ben Vezina and Dr Margaret Lam, Monash University, Australia.

Mr Max Cosgriff

Max is is an Honours student using a combination of genome-scale metabolic modelling and laboratory assays to explore novel metabolism in K. pneumoniae. Max is co-supervised by Dr Fran Short, Monash University, Australia.

Alumni

Dr Abhinaba Ray – 2024-2026

Abhinaba’s PhD explored non-traditional antimicrobials targeting K. pneumoniae, including bacteriocins. Abhinaba was co-supervised by Dr Ben Vezina and Prof Sheena McGowan (Monash University).

DR Helena Cooper – 2021-2025

Helena completed her PhD thesis on K. pneumoniae metabolic diversity and clinical risk, making a major contribution to our metabolic modelling portfolio by developing a curated and validated pan-metabolic reference model for K. pneumoniae.

Dr Ben Vezina – 2020-2024

Ben is a former Research Fellow who played a lead role in the development of Bactabolize and its application to >7000 Klebsiella genomes.

Dr Melinda ashcroft – 2022-2023

Melinda is a former Research Fellow who worked on Klebsiella oxytoca capsule locus diversity.

Honours students

Ms Ella Petrowski – 2025 (co-supervised with Dr Fran Short, Monash University)

Ms Claire White – 2025 (co-supervised with Dr Margaret Lam, Dr Ben Vezina, Monash University)