Dr. Claire Elek
Phage Biologist
PhD Microbiology, MRes Biomedical Research - Bacterial Pathogenesis and Infection, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science
Claire.elek@wimr.org.au
Biography
Dr Elek is a Phage Biologist with the Iredell Group where she is involved in delivering phage therapy to patients through Phage Australia.
Dr Elek completed her PhD in 2024 at the Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB) and the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), where she studied the use of bacteriophages (phages) in the biocontrol of Klebsiella spp. During her PhD, she isolated and performed both phenotypic and genomic characterisation of phages, and developed a hybrid and poly-polish phage assembly workflow for generating complete, accurate high-quality phage genomes. She also sought to identify phage receptors involved during infection using high-throughput transposon-directed insertion site sequencing (TraDIS).
During a short postdoctoral position (QIB, UK), Dr Elek isolated P. aeruginosa from the sputum samples of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis patients and explored the genomic epidemiology of a subset of samples. Genomic insights via diversity profiling provided the bacterial host context for targeted control and eradication of P. aeruginosa using phages.
In her current position, Dr Elek uses sequencing-based approaches and genomics to understand phages and their hosts. She applies her expertise in phage biology and phage genomics to drive decisions on the diversity, safety, and efficacy of phage products dispensed to patients. She also uses these methods to understand the genomic epidemiology of the bacterial hosts to drive phage bioprospecting projects.
Research interests
Dr Elek’s research focuses primarily on how phage genomics can be utilised to improve phage genome quality. She is interested in phage infection biology, particularly the receptors utilised by phages on their bacterial hosts, as well as phage diversity, and taxonomy.
Affiliations
University of Sydney
