Seungha Kang

He is a Research Fellow with the Microbial Biology and Metagenomics group within the Immunology Program of the University of Queensland Frazer Institute and an honorary fellowship with The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, 2019-2021). His PhD research involved designing and applying DNA transfer systems for heterologous protein expression in Lactobacillus spp. He moved to The Ohio State University, USA to conduct postdoctoral research in gut microbiology, focusing on fibre-degrading bacteria and their production of multi-protein complexes supporting this process. He was recruited to join CSIRO (Brisbane) to undertake collaborative research projects for the “Colorectal Cancer and Gut Health” Theme of their Preventative Health Flagship Research Program. His contributions during this time were to develop further and use the DNA microarray technology he had pioneered to examine the stool and mucosa-associated microbiota communities in Crohn’s disease with French and Australian collaborators. These efforts led to several highly cited and high-impact publications in key medical journals, recognised for providing some of the first insights into the critical bacterial taxa that underpin the microbial “dysbiosis” now considered a hallmark of Crohn’s disease. In early 2019, he accepted a position with professor Morrison’s group as part of my ongoing collaborations with Melbourne University in Crohn’s disease research supported via the Helmsley Charitable Trust. He is providing leadership in using a novel ex-vivo combination of gut microbe culture and metagenomic sequencing for the first deep functional characterisation of the Crohn’s disease mucosa-associated microbiota. His development and implementation of innovative molecular biology and “omics” approach help better understand complex microbial gut systems relevant to human health.