Research interests

Belinda has gained experience working on clinical trials, submitting HREC and SSA ethics applications and preparing laboratory manuals for accreditation and audits. In addition, she is an experienced molecular microbiologist with extensive laboratory training, having served as a laboratory manager within her research team and conducted supervision of both staff and students. She conducts workplace safety inspections and has gained experience assessing risks including chemical and biosafety requirements developing safe work practice documents, and undergoing audits by various OHS committees. Having worked with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), she is well‑versed in managing, preparing, and applying for Office of the Gene Technology Regulator/Institutional Biosafety Committee DNIR, DIR, and NLRD licences. She has also been involved in a clinical trial that involves the administration of GMOs to hospital patients.

Her responsibilities have included negotiating and executing budget and funding contracts with various funding bodies, local and federal government agencies, and tertiary institutions (both local and interstate). She prepares budget reports, assesses requirements for ethical and biosafety approvals, identifies and procures project‑specific equipment and consumables, and identifies and mitigates risks.

She is also able to design and optimise laboratory experiments to meet project aims and prepare scientific reports. Belinda has experience with developing and optimising laboratory protocols for improved diagnostics and microbiological culture and reporting laboratory results to clinical teams. She can work within multidisciplinary teams and is able to consistently meet strict deadlines.

Belinda also has experience in the collection, curation, and analysis of data for publication and presentation to a range of stakeholders. Belinda was a member of the team at Westmead Hospital that treated the first patient in Australia with bacteriophage therapy (PMID: 21737541) and continued to contribute to this work, with acknowledgements in several publications (PMID: 31437402; PMID: 31281964).