Dr Jake O'Brien
Dr

Jake O'Brien

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Phone: 
+61 7 344 32448

Background

Doctor Jake O’Brien is Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS). His main field of interest is in wastewater-based epidemiology, but he also has interest in developing analytical methods for chemicals of emerging concern within biological and environmental samples. Doctor O'Brien is a strong advocate for collaborative research having co-authored with more than 300 collaborators worldwide on over 160 publications. Jake is strongly supportive of early career researcher development and is currently the chair of the EMCR@UQ Committee. He is also a Chief Investigator of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program since its establishment in 2016.

Availability

Dr Jake O'Brien is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Analytical chemistry Chemical Sciences Disease surveillance Environmental Sciences Epidemiology Health Sciences Pollution and contamination Pollution and contamination not elsewhere classified Social epidemiology

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Search Professor Jake O'Brien’s works on UQ eSpace

227 works between 2011 and 2026
All (227) Book (1) Journal Article (175) Other Outputs (9) Conference Publication (39) Book Chapter (3)

221 - 227 of 227 works

2014

Journal Article

Commentary on Ort etal. (2014): What next to deliver on the promise of large scale sewage-based drug epidemiology?

Bruno, Raimondo, Hall, Wayne, Kirkbride, K. Paul, Lai, Foon Yin, O'Brien, Jake W., Prichard, Jeremy, Thai, Phong K. and Mueller, Jochen F. (2014). Commentary on Ort etal. (2014): What next to deliver on the promise of large scale sewage-based drug epidemiology?. Addiction, 109 (8), 1353-1354. doi: 10.1111/add.12651

Commentary on Ort etal. (2014): What next to deliver on the promise of large scale sewage-based drug epidemiology?

2013

Journal Article

Using quantitative wastewater analysis to measure daily usage of conventional and emerging illicit drugs at an annual music festival

Lai, Foon Yin, Thai, Phong K., O'Brien, Jake., Gartner, Coral, Bruno, Raimondo, Kele, Benjamin, Ort, Christoph, Prichard, Jeremy, Kirkbride, Paul, Hall, Wayne, Carter, Steve and Mueller, Jochen F. (2013). Using quantitative wastewater analysis to measure daily usage of conventional and emerging illicit drugs at an annual music festival. Drug and Alcohol Review, 32 (6), 594-602. doi: 10.1111/dar.12061

Using quantitative wastewater analysis to measure daily usage of conventional and emerging illicit drugs at an annual music festival

2012

Conference Publication

Evaluation of illicit drug prevalence among attendees at a music festival via wastewater analysis

Lai, F. Y., Thai, P. K., O'Brien,, Kele, B., Ort, C., Gartner, C., Carter, S., Hall, W., Prichard, J., Bruno, R., Kirkbride, P., Eaglesham, G. and Mueller, J. F. (2012). Evaluation of illicit drug prevalence among attendees at a music festival via wastewater analysis. 2nd SETAC Australasia Conference, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 4-6 July 2012.

Evaluation of illicit drug prevalence among attendees at a music festival via wastewater analysis

2012

Conference Publication

Wastewater "epidemiology": competitor or complement to survey studies?

Lai, F. Y., Thai, P. K., O'Brien, J., Mueller, J. F., Ort, C., Carter, S., Eaglesham, G., Prichard, J., Bruno, R., van Dyken, E., Hall, W., Gartner, C., Humphries, M. and Karpievitch, Y. (2012). Wastewater "epidemiology": competitor or complement to survey studies?. 2012 National Drug Trends Conference. Drugs, crime and the front-line: Australiasian perspective, Sydney, NSW Australia, 9 October 2012.

Wastewater "epidemiology": competitor or complement to survey studies?

2012

Conference Publication

Forensic epidemiology: estimating illicit drug prevalence at a music festival through wastewater analysis

Lai, F. Y., Thai, P. K., Ort, C., O'Brien, J., Kele, B., Hall, W., Gartner, C., Bruno, R., Kirkbride, P. and Mueller, J. F. (2012). Forensic epidemiology: estimating illicit drug prevalence at a music festival through wastewater analysis. 21st International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences, Hobart, TAS Australia, 23-27 September 2012.

Forensic epidemiology: estimating illicit drug prevalence at a music festival through wastewater analysis

2012

Conference Publication

Using wastewater analysis to measure illicit substance use among attendees of a music festival

Lai, F. Y., Thai, P. K., O'Brien, J., Kele, B., Ort, C., Gartner, C., Carter, S., Hall, W., Prichard, J., Bruno, R., Kirkbride, P., Eaglesham, G. and Mueller, J. F. (2012). Using wastewater analysis to measure illicit substance use among attendees of a music festival. 25th Annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminiology Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 27-29 November 2012.

Using wastewater analysis to measure illicit substance use among attendees of a music festival

2011

Journal Article

A cleaner river: Long term use of semipermeable membrane devices demonstrate that concentrations of selected organochlorines and PAHs in the Brisbane River estuary, Queensland have reduced substantially over the past decade

Mueller, J. F., Mortimer, M. R., O'Brien, J., Komarova, T. and Carter, S. (2011). A cleaner river: Long term use of semipermeable membrane devices demonstrate that concentrations of selected organochlorines and PAHs in the Brisbane River estuary, Queensland have reduced substantially over the past decade. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 63 (5-12), 73-76. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.03.026

A cleaner river: Long term use of semipermeable membrane devices demonstrate that concentrations of selected organochlorines and PAHs in the Brisbane River estuary, Queensland have reduced substantially over the past decade

Current funding

  • 2026 - 2030
    Characterising Environmental Chemicals Driving Antimicrobial Resistance
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2025 - 2026
    MOBSTER: Integrating antimicrobial resistance gene mobility analysis into surveillance to estimate risks
    Universities Australia - Germany Joint Research Co-operation Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2027
    National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
    Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2028
    ARC Training Centre for Hyphenated Analytical Separation Technologies (ARC ITRP administered by the University of Tasmania)
    University of Tasmania
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2026
    A National Wastewater Surveillance Program for Antimicrobial Resistance
    NHMRC Investigator Grants
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2022 - 2025
    Realistic assessment of biomarker transformation in the wastewater system
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2023
    Assessing the toxicity and metabolism of New Psychoactive Substances and their presence in wastewater
    Universities Australia - Germany Joint Research Co-operation Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2022
    Preliminary investigations relating to the role of cyanobacterial blooms in the amplification and dispersal of antimicrobial resistance
    Melbourne Water Corporation
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2025
    Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2023
    Estimating use of tobacco and nicotine products through wastewater analysis
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2023
    National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
    Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2022
    Revolutionizing real-time genomic epidemiology in urban wastewater systems (ARC Discovery Project administered by the University of Wollongong)
    University of Wollongong
    Open grant
  • 2018
    Measuring community oxidative stress and tobacco consumption levels through wastewater analysis
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2019
    National Wastewater Analysis Capability Project
    Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
    Open grant
  • 2013
    UWA/UQ joint project on sewer epidemiology
    UWA-UQ Bilateral Research Collaboration Award
    Open grant

Availability

Dr Jake O'Brien is:
Available for supervision

Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Dr Jake O'Brien directly for media enquiries about:

  • Illicit drug monitoring in wastewater
  • national wastewater drug monitoring program
  • wastewater

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