Dr Marina Harper works in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as a Research Fellow. Marina has extensive research experience microbial genetics and molecular biology. The focus of her research is on pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria and their virulence factors, and how the expression of these factors is regulated. This work utilizes a wide range of molecular techniques, including mutagenesis, combined with a range of cutting edge techniques including next generation genomic and transcriptomic analyses. Dr Harper is a world expert on the biology of the Pasteurella multocida, together with collaborators her work has shown the importance of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and capsule in virulence, elucidated the structure of the LPS and revealed that LPS is a critical protective antigen in killed whole-cell vaccines but is not a protective antigen in live attenuated vaccines.