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Federation Fellow joins Monash

15 October 2008

Professor Trevor Lithgow

Professor Trevor Lithgow has joined Monash as an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Professor Lithgow's fellowship will support collaborative research in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Microbiology at the Clayton campus.

Professor Lithgow is an international leader in protein targeting and membrane assembly. His lab is working towards an understanding of how pathogenic microbes sense and interact with human tissues and how the outer surfaces of bacteria are built.

"The development of new technologies, and advances in fundamental knowledge of molecular cell biology provide the means to study these pathogens and to look for their "Achilles Heel", the long-term vision being the development of drugs that can better fight infections," Professor Lithgow said.

Professor Lithgow completed his PhD at La Trobe University and then undertook postdoctoral work at the University of Basel in Switzerland. For the past nine years he has worked at the University of Melbourne.

He said receiving the Federation Fellowship was a genuine thrill, and the scientific possibilities it opened up were extraordinary.

"Through several initiatives Monash is poised to change the scientific landscape in Australia," Professor Lithgow said.

"One of the most exciting aspects for my group is the way our work will feed into several of these initiatives.

"Establishing this team at Monash University will also provide an outstanding means for training research students who will go on to be the scientific leaders of tomorrow."