Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Mike completed at PhD in Evolutionary Genetics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Massy University in New Zealand in 2009. After that he took up a Distinguished Postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Molecular Biology at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. In 2012 Mike moved to the USA to take up a Postdoctoral fellow ship in the FAS Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University.
In 2016, Mike returned to Australia to establish his independent lab in the School of Biological Sciences. He joined the Centre to Impact AMR as a founding member in 2020 and currently leads the Training and Inclusion working group to develop the next generation of AMR experts.
Research interests
Mike is interested in the genetics of adaptation. To study this question, his lab propagates populations of yeast (and other microbes) for 1000's of generations in a variety of laboratory environments. Microbes grow and divide very quickly, providing a means for directly observing evolution as it happens. The goal is to understand how organisms adapt to better fit their environment. We do this by finding the mutations that cause adaptation, determining how these mutations change the genetic program of the cell and trying to predict how organisms will respond to environmental change. Mikes lab employs methods such as high throughput robotic liquid handling, whole genome sequencing and molecular genetic techniques.
Research area keywords
- Evolution
- Genetics
- Mutations
- Genome Evolution
- Genetics, microbial
- Antimicrobial resistance
Network
Projects
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Novel targets from the antibiotic resistance network in multi-drug resistant Helicobacter pylori
McDonald, M. & Kwok-Schuelein, T.
1/01/20 → 31/12/22
Project: Research
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Tracking the molecular dynamics of adaptation with horizontal gene transfer
1/07/17 → 30/06/21
Project: Research
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Research output
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Bismuth phosphinate incorporated nanocellulose sheets with antimicrobial and barrier properties for packaging applications
Maliha, M., Herdman, M., Brammananth, R., McDonald, M., Coppel, R., Werrett, M., Andrews, P. & Batchelor, W., 10 Feb 2020, In : Journal of Cleaner Production. 246, 12 p., 119016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
7 Citations (Scopus) -
Horizontal gene transfer potentiates adaptation by reducing selective constraints on the spread of genetic variation
Woods, L. C., Gorrell, R. J., Taylor, F., Connallon, T., Kwok, T. & McDonald, M. J., 27 Oct 2020, In : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117, 43, p. 26868-26875 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Sex alters molecular evolution in diploid experimental populations of S. cerevisiae
Leu, J. Y., Chang, S. L., Chao, J. C., Woods, L. C. & McDonald, M. J., 10 Feb 2020, In : Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4, p. 453–460 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus) -
The evolution of coexistence from competition in experimental co-cultures of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Barber, J. N., Sezmis, A. L., Woods, L. C., Anderson, T. D., Voss, J. M. & McDonald, M. J., 22 Oct 2020, In : ISME Journal. 15, p. 746–761 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Diverse hydrogen production and consumption pathways influence methane production in ruminants
Greening, C., Geier, R., Wang, C., Woods, L. C., Morales, S. E., McDonald, M. J., Rushton-Green, R., Morgan, X. C., Koike, S., Leahy, S. C., Kelly, W. J., Cann, I., Attwood, G. T., Cook, G. M. & Mackie, R. I., 1 Oct 2019, In : ISME Journal. 13, 10, p. 2617-2632 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile19 Citations (Scopus)