Dr Pooja Sethiya
Bioinformatician
Post-Doctoral Research Scientist
Westmead Research Hub EMCR committee member
PhD (Biomedical Sciences)
pooja.sethiya@wimr.org.au
Biography
Dr. Pooja Sethiya is a bioinformatician and fungal biologist who applies genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and reproducible computational approaches to study clinically important pathogens. Her expertise spans multi-omics data analysis, bioinformatics pipeline development, R-based workflow design, high-throughput sequencing analysis, and the integration of complex biological datasets.
During her PhD at the University of Macau, Dr. Sethiya applied RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and integrative omics approaches to investigate transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in pathogenic fungi. Her work showed that fungal spores, long considered dormant, are transcriptionally active before germination, revealing new insights into pathogen adaptation and infection potential.Through integrated genomics approaches, she further revealed that stress plays a key role in driving antifungal drug resistance, including resistance to fluconazole.
Later, during her postdoctoral research with Associate Professor Julie Djordjevic at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, she designed and implemented integrative multi-omics pipelines combining transcriptomics, phospho-proteomics, and proteomics datasets to investigate fungal pathogenesis, antifungal drug responses, and the mechanisms of action of novel therapeutic compounds.
In her current role with in the phage therapy group, Dr. Sethiya extends this pathogen-focused bioinformatics expertise beyond fungal systems, applying reproducible analytical workflows to support research into antimicrobial strategies for clinically important infections.
Research interests
Dr. Pooja Sethiya’s research focuses on developing, executing, and maintaining reproducible bioinformatics pipelines for high-throughput sequencing data to support pathogen characterisation and antimicrobial resistance research, including AGAR studies, a surveillance program investigating antimicrobial resistance in clinically important pathogens. Her work emphasises robust, scalable, and interpretable computational workflows for bacterial genomics, phage therapy, and precision antimicrobial strategies.
Fungal Biology, Cryptococcus neoformans, Genomics, Transcriptomics, Proteomics, Drug Discovery, Using multi-omics approaches(genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) to understand how fungi cause disease and the mechanism of action of novel antifungal compounds.
Adjunct roles
| Research Affiliate | University of Sydney, FMH |
Additional information
EDUCATION:
- PhD (Biomedical Sciences) – University of Macau, 2021
- MSc (Bioinformatics) – University of Pune, 2014
- BSc (Biotechnology) – University of Pune, 2012
PROJECTS:
Using various omics platforms to determine the impact of inhibiting:
- Fungal cyclin-dependent kinases and IP3-4 kinases, pharmacologically and core phosphate signalling machinery using genetic ablation
FUNDING AND COLLABORATION:
COLLABORATION
- Angela Connelly, Ben Crossett- Sydney Mass Spectrometry, University of Sydney, Camperdown 2006, NSW Australia
- Michael J. Boucher, Hiten Madhani- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
STAFF ID (Sydney Uni): 1182581
Affiliations
University of Sydney, FMH
Professional Associations and Organisations
| Member | Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute’s- FungiSphere Node | |
| Member | Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation |
Awards and recognition
| Awarded EMCR Seed Grants as Chief Investigator: University of Sydney, The Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute- FungiSphere. University of Sydney, Centre for Drug Discovery Initiative. |
| Associate Investigator: University of Sydney, Centre for Drug Discovery Initiative Stage 2 Grant |
