Our team

Principal Investigator

Dr Matthias Fellner (matthias.fellner@otago.ac.nz)

2025:

2024:

Current staff member

Malcolm Rutledge – Assistant Research Fellow – Protein & enzyme characterisations

Current PhD students

Caleb Trimble – Colour protein in sea stars; co-supervised by Dr. Nathan Kenny (Biochemistry), Professor Miles Lamare (Marine Science) and Dr. Suzanne Williams (Natural History Museum, London)

Haziq Anwar – Characterisation of FphD as diagnostic probe for diagnosing and monitoring disease progression of Staphylococcus aureus infections; co-supervised by Associate Professor Daniel Pletzer (Microbiology and Immunology) and Dr. Andrea Vernall (Chemistry)

Xiangyan You – Targeting Staphylococcus aureus serine hydrolases FphA for the development of diagnostic probes; co-supervised by Associate Professor Daniel Pletzer (Microbiology and Immunology)

Pragya Bradu – Characterisation of DONSON (protein downstream neighbour of Son); main supervisor Professor Louise Bicknell; co-supervisors Dr. Matthias Fellner and Professor Liz Ledgerwood (all Biochemistry).

Shuxian Li – Enzymes in food products; main supervisor Professor Aladin Bekhit (Department of Food Science); co-supervisor Dr. Matthias Fellner

Tianming Chen – Using Gene Editing to Produce High Activity Keratinases to Hydrolyze Wool Protein for Food Applications; main supervisor Professor Aladin Bekhit (Department of Food Science); co-supervisors Dr. Matthias Fellner and Professor Shyamal Das (School of Pharmacy)

Yin Wang – Investigation of fermentation of brewer’s spent grain byproduct using food grade filamentous fungi to enhance extraction of protein; main supervisor Professor Aladin Bekhit (Department of Food Science); co-supervisor Dr. Matthias Fellner

Jack Coakley – Effects of ultraviolet radiation on sea stars; main supervisor Professor Miles Lamare (Marine Science); co-supervisors Dr. Matthias Fellner; Dr. Nathan Kenny (Biochemistry), and Dr. Suzanne Williams (Natural History Museum, London)

Previous lab members

George Randall – Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2025) – Peptide inhibitor discovery

Shilpa Saseendran Nair – Assistant Research Fellow (2023-2025) – Bacterial metabolomics and lipidomics

Yoann Marjolet (MSc research internship from Biological Engineering at Polytech Clermont France, 2025) – Pseudomonas aeruginosa Universal Stress Proteins

Adrian Isaac Soleil Smith-Beech (MSc student 2023/24) – The ATP-binding Protein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, UspN, and the Cofactor Theory of Universal Stress Protein Function; co-supervised by Associate Professor Daniel Pletzer (Microbiology and Immunology)

Sathmi Bambarawana (Summer student 2025/26) – Characterisation of FphJ

Ianah Rae Clarice Guasch Bitac (Summer student 2023/24) – S. aureus serine hydrolases

Annabel Walsh (Summer student 2022/23) – Received Otago Medical Research Foundation Renshaw Prize 2022-23 for her summer project on S. aureus serine hydrolase FphH