Prof  Peter O'Donoghue

School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
University of Queensland
Brisbane Qld
Australia 4072
 
Tel: (61 7) 3365 2585
Fax: (61 7) 3365 4620
Email: p.odonoghue@uq.edu.auÂ
Website: http://profiles.bacs.uq.edu.au/Peter.O'Donoghue.html  
 

Fields of Interest

Medical,Veterinary,Environmental, Water Quality, Education, Biosecurity, Biodiscovery, Diagnostics, Molecular Biology, Phylogeny, Systematics.

Other Interests

Parasite transmission pathogenesis, developmental biology cell biology

Microorganisms and Cell Cultures

Parasites

Other Taxa

Protozoa, Sporozoa, Apicomplexa, Ciliophora, Zoomastigophora, Sarcodina, Microspora, Myxosporea

Environments

Freshwater, Human, Animal, Insect

Specific Environments

Gut/blood/tissue parasites, rumen ecosystem, aquatic fouling organisms

Methods

Microscopy, histochemistry, electron microscopy, immunodiagnosis

Services

Culture Isolation, Culture Identification, Molecular Typing, DNA Sequencing, Serotyping, Cell Culture, Cryogenic Storage

Other Services

Differential diagnosis, Isolate characterization, Strain variation

Other Key Words

Protozoology, Protistology, Lower eukaryotes

Research

My area of specialization is clinical protozoology and I practice as a diagnostician; i.e. I identify protozoan parasites in vertebrate hosts. My goal is to characterize those species occurring in Australia. Little is known about protozoa in the gut, blood and tissues of our unique native animals. I seek to define the morphology, biology, phylogeny and pathogenicity of protozoan species endemic in Australian hosts, including sporozoa, ciliates, flagellates and amoebae in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. My research involves studying parasite form and function as well as host-parasite interactions resulting in disease. I apply conventional and contemporary technologies to study organismal, cellular and molecular biology, including light and electron microscopy, biochemical and immunological assays, protein profiling and nucleotide analyses. My studies have been very successful in discovering new protozoan species, indicating their disease and transmission potential, and providing insights into their phylogenetic relationships. Generally speaking, many enteric species, which are transmitted by faecal contamination of the environment, exhibit low host specificity and low pathogenicity; constant exposure to them elicits solid protection against disease and outbreaks are rare (except in neonates). However, many haematozoan species, which are transmitted by invertebrate vectors, exhibit high host specificity and high pathogenicity; they infect fewer hosts but proliferate profusely causing epizootics. In comparison, most tissue protozoa, which are transmitted by carnivorism, exhibit high host specificity but low pathogenicity; they cause chronic infections in many hosts and persist by subtle immune evasion mechanisms (including premunition). Many Australian species also demonstrate a high degree of endemicity suggesting their evolution in long isolation (Gondwanan origins). Some amitochondriate species even appear to be the ‘missing links’ in the evolution of lower eukaryotes, forming symbiotic relationships with other putative ‘organelles’ of energy transduction (including hydrogenosomes and methanogenic bacteria).Â