The Microbial Super-Resolution Microscopy Lab
CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
Dr. Bill Söderström | Senior Lecturer | ARC Future Fellow | FASM
​
Bill leads the Microbial Super-resolution Microscopy Lab at UTS, with a keen interest in a broad range of fluorescence microscopy techniques as applied to imaging bacteria and bacterial infections. Before joining UTS, Bill did a postdoctoral stint at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan (2014-2019), where he used and developed super-resolution microscopy and microfluidics approaches, as well as cryo-CLEM approaches to figure out the inner workings of the bacterial cell division machinery.
He performed graduate studies in Biophysics in the lab of Gunnar von Heijne at Stockholm University (2011-2014). He also holds a M.Sc. in Engineering Physics (Teknisk Fysik) from the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH in Sweden.
Dr. Alaska Pokhrel | Postdoc | ARC Funded
​
Alaska completed her PhD in Microbiology in the lab of Prof. Ian Paulsen at Macquarie University, 2022. Her PhD research focused on the functional characterisation of novel transcriptional regulators in the highly significant human bacterial pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii.
Alaska is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of fundamental microbial processes. As a part of the Postdoctoral role in the Bacterial Super-resolution Microscopy Lab, Alaska is keen to learn and apply super-resolution microscopy and microfluidics to gain novel insights into the bacterial cell division machinery.
​
Dr. Pauline Coulon | Postdoc
Joint with Prof. Garry Myers (Director AIMI)
​
As a postdoctoral research fellow in the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Technology Sydney, Pauline is passionate about using omics and in-vitro models to answer fundamental biological questions and develop new strategies to combat important pathogens. She is particularly passionate about the role of Burkholderia phase variation during infection.
Dr. Arthika Manoharan | Visiting Postdoc
University of Sydney
​
Arthika is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute, University of Sydney and a visiting researcher with the Söderström Group. She recently completed her PhD at USYD under the supervision of Dr. Theerthankar Das, Dr. Greg Whiteley and A/Prof Jim Manos. Her research aims to tackle biofilm formation in recurrent and catheter associated urinary tract infections.
​
As a Postdoctoral researcher, she has been pursuing her growing interest in understanding exactly how biofilm forming uropathogens such as P. mirabilis and P. aeruginosa interact with the host in vitro, and the implications of biofilm formation in the urinary environment. Her goal is to identify the causation of biofilm formation in the bladder environment and how this can potentially be prevented.
Ariana Costas | PhD student
Joint with Dr. Molly Ingersoll at Institut Cochin in Paris
​
Ariana completed a Bachelor of Medical Science Degree with First-Class Honours at UTS 2022. During her PhD, Ariana is using a cystitis (bladder infection) model in mice and genetically modified UPEC strains to assess the impact of the immune response on antibiotic treatment during urinary tract infections. She will further assess the immune response in female and male animals to understand whether sex differences contribute to antibiotic non-response.
During UTIs, the capacity for uropathogenic bacteria to evade antibiotics in the absence of antibiotic resistance genes, this is known as antibiotic non-response. This phenomenon is poorly understood and mechanisms employed by the bacteria, particularly in vivo, are not known. Her goal is to enhance our understanding of why treatments fail during infection in vivo to improve therapeutic solutions to UTI.
Lachlan Chishlom | PhD student
​
Lachlan completed his Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science at UTS in 2023. His PhD will focus on developing multi-strain UPEC urinary tract infections models to characterise whether different strains of Escherichia coli complement or hinder each other during infection.
​
Yiting (Echo) Liu | PhD student
Joint with Dr. Ying Zhu, Fac. of Engineering & IT, UTS
​
Echo completed her bachelor's studies in biomedical engineering with first-class honours at the University of Technology Sydney. In her PhD she is working on introducing innovative single extracellular vesicle (EV) assays into a clinical setting, aiming to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer with high precision. Her research integrates advanced microscopy technologies like Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) with image processing through machine learning to develop and validate biomarkers for early cancer detection.
Ciara Walsham | Master's student
​
Ciara completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology at UTS in 2022 and is currently doing a Master of Philosophy in Medical Biotechnology. Her thesis is examining the difference in protein expression between Escherichia coli rods and filaments in a model UTI. This project also involve optimising microfluidics separation techniques, running UTI infection flow models and proteomics techniques for protein expression analysis.
Diana Marshall | Honours student
Joint with Dr. Maiken Ueland, UTS Forensics
​
Diana holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Forensic Studies from the University of Canberra. She is now undertaking a collaborative Honours project between AIMI and UTS Forensics in Forensic Microbiology, comparing and documenting the post-mortem microbiome of human cadavers to estimate time-since death.
​
Awesome Honours/Masters student.
You? Join us!
​
​
PAST MEMBERS
Mona Shahoon | Master's student | 2024
Visiting from the Dept. of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH, Sweden
​
Mona completed a Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology at KTH in 2024.
​
In the Bill, she did lab work as a part of her thesis focusing on investigating the therapeutic possibilities of nano-bodies against UPEC specific proteins.
​
Matthew Pittorino | PhD student
​
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Medical Science degree with First-Class Honours from UTS, 2021.
​
During his PhD, Matthew is using genetics, single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to gain novel insights into bacterial cell division. Employing these approaches, Matthew seeks to provide novel insight to the assembly dynamics and function of peptidoglycan-binding (SPOR-domain) proteins during the Escherichia coli cell division cycle.
He is currently developing protocols for multi-color single-molecule microscopy for use in bacteria.
Emma Westlund | Master's student | 2022-23
Visiting from the Dept. of Applied Physics, KTH, Sweden
​
Emma completed a Master of Science in Engineering Physics with a profile in Biomedical Physics at KTH in 2023.
In the Bill lab, as a part of her thesis work, she used nano-tags and single-molecule microscopy approaches to develop tools for investigating the cell division machinery in dividing E. coli.
​​​
Currently:
Microscopy facility staff at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
​
Charlotte Abell-King | Honours student | 2022
​
Charlotte holds a Bachelor of Science in Anatomy and Histology from USYD. During her honours year she used microfluidics and fluorescence microscopy to investigate multi-species urinary tract infections and how various bacteria help one another during in an UTI model.​
​​
Currently:
PhD student at The Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, AU.
Claudia Fuentes Mello. Intern student. 2021
Thavarajah Thavakumaran. Project Master student. 2020
TRAINING
Students that are keen to learn and/or develop their skills in fluorescence based microscopy and microfluidics approaches to study bacteria and their lifestyles are encouraged to contact
the lab to discuss potential research projects. Honours student research scholarships may be
available.​
​
Interested postdocs are invited to have a look at the UTS CRF scheme and possibly apply with Bill as sponsor.
​
In our lab, integrity, respect and compassion are core values.
We also believe in having fun while doing research!
Contact Bill for a chat if you are interested in joining the lab.
​