Professor of Molecuar Biology

Phone: +61 2 9514 4161

Fax: +61 2 9514 8206

John.Ellis@uts.edu.au

Academic Qualifications

BSc (Hons) in Physiology and Biochemistry (Reading University)

PhD, Molecular biology of Leishmania (Livepool University)

DSc, Biology of the cyst-forming coccidia (Liverpool University)

Teaching Activities

I am the subject coordinator for the third year subject Molecular Biology 2, which focuses on gene structure and function and the discipline of genomics and functional genomics. I also am involved in teaching parasitology at the introductory level within Microbiology.

Over the last 18 years, I have supervised and graduated approx. 20 research students within all areas of parasitology, molecular biology, immunology, cell biology, diagnosis and vaccines.

Research Interests and Activities

I am interested in many areas of veterinary and medical parasitology with a special focus on applied, practical aspects such as development and validation of new diagnostic tests and vaccines for parasites such as Neospora caninum and Dientamoeba fragilis.

I am keen to foster external research collaborations in the general area of infectious diseases and to supervise research students in the workplace.

Research topics for Honours and Postgraduate Students

• Immunity and diagnosis of Neospora caninum in cattle (with Dr M. Reichel)
• Development of vaccines to Neospora caninum and abortion in cattle
• Role of wildlife in the life cycle of Neospora caninum (with Prof P. Windsor, D. Jenkins, P. Fleming, Pest Animal CRC)
• Thiol metabolism of Haemonchus contortus (with Prof. M. Davey, UTS)
• The role of parasites in irritable bowel syndrome and the development of new diagnostic tests for gastrointestinal parasite infections such as Dientiamoeba fragilis (with Professor’s Harkness and Marriott, Dr Stark, St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney)
• Phage therapy and bacterial multidrug resistance (with Dr Tony Smithyman, Special Phage Services Ltd, Sydney)

Research staff and students

• Sarwat Al Qassab (PhD student)
• Sandra Morales (PhD student)
• Tamalee Roberts (MSc student)

Selected publications: [last 5 years only]

Quinn, H.E., Windsor, P.A., Kirkland, P.D. and Ellis, J.T. (2004) An outbreak of abortion in a dairy herd associated with Neospora caninum and bovine pestivirus infection. Australian Veterinary Journal 82, 99-101.

Vonlaufen, N., Guetg, N., Naguleswaran, A., Muller, N., BjÖrkman, C., Schares, G., von Blumroeder, D., Ellis, J. and Hemphill, A. (2004) In vitro induction of Neospora caninum bradyzoites in vero cells reveals differential antigen expression, localization, and host-cell recognition of tachyzoites and bradyzoites. Infection and Immunity 72, 576-583.

Quinn, H.E., Miller, C.M.D. and Ellis, J.T. (2004) IL-4 modifies the immune response following gestational Neospora caninum infection. International Journal for Parasitology 34, 723-732.

Ellis, J.T., Sinclair, D. and Morrison, D.A. (2004) Microarrays and stage conversion in Toxoplasma gondii. Trends in Parasitology 20, 288-295.

Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J.T. and Harkness, J. (2005) PCR for the detection of Dientamoeba fragilis. International Journal for Parasitology 35, 57-62.

Hudson, A. and Ellis, J.T. (2005) Treatment of Neospora caninum with a Mycoplasma removal agent results in the selection of a mutant population of tachyzoites. Parasitology 130, 607-610.

Lei, Y., Davey, M. and Ellis, J.T. (2005) Autofluorescent properties of the cystic stages of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. Journal of Parasitology 91, 17-23.

Hall, C., Reichel, M.P. and Ellis, J.T. (2005) Neospora abortion in dairy cattle: diagnosis, mode of transmission and control. Veterinary Parasitology 128, 231-241.

Miller, C.M.D., Quinn, H., Reichel, M.P. and Ellis, J.T. (2005) Reduction in transplacental transmission of Neospora caninum in outbred mice by vaccination. International Journal for Parasitology 35, 821-828.

Lei, Y., Birch, D., Davey, M. and Ellis J.T. (2005) Subcellular fractionation and molecular characterization of the pellicle and plasmalemma of Neospora caninum. Parasitology 131, 467-475.

Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J.T. and Harkness, J. (2005) A prospective study on the prevalence, genotyping and clinical relevance of Dientamoeba fragilis infections in an Australian population. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 43, 2718-2723.

Lei, Y., Birch, D., Davey, M. and Ellis J.T. (2005) Attachment and invasion of Neospora caninum to fibroblast and epithelial cells in vitro. Parasitology 131, 583-594.

Abel, J., Schares, G., Orzesko, K., Gasser, R.B. and Ellis, J.T. (2005) Hammondia isolated from dogs and foxes are genetically distinct. Parasitology 132, 187-192.

Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2006) Evaluation of three diagnostic methods, including real-time PCR, for the detection of Dientamoeba fragilis in stool specimens. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 44, 232-235.

Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2006) Dientamoebiasis: a review on the clinical importance and recent advances. Trends in Parasitology 22, 92-96.

Hall, C., Reichel, M.P. and Ellis, J.T. (2006) Performance characteristics of two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the detection of antibodies to Neospora caninum in the serum of cattle. Veterinary Parasitology 140, 61-68.

Reichel, M.P. and Ellis, J.T. (2006) If control of Neospora caninum is technically feasible-does it make economic sense? Veterinary Parasitology 142, 23-24.

Stark, D, Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J., and Harkness, J. (2006) Dientamoeba fragilis as a cause of traveller’s diarrhoea: report of seven cases. Journal of Travel Medicine 14, 72-73.

Hall, C., Reichel, M.P. and Ellis, J.T. (2006) Prevalence of Neospora caninum infection in Australian (NSW) dairy cattle estimated by a newly validated ELISA for milk. Veterinary Parasitology 142, 173-178.

Williams, D.J.L., Guy, C.S., Smith, R.F., Ellis, J., Björkman, C. and Trees, A.J. (2006) Protection against Neospora caninum associated abortion in cattle is associated with a memory cell mediated response and not with the quality or quantity of the antibody response. Infection and Immunity 75, 1343-1348.

Fotedar, R., Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2007) PCR detection and identification of Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba dispar and Entamoeba moshkovskii in stool samples from Sydney, Australia. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 45, 1035-1037.

Stark, D, Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J., and Harkness, J. (2007) Prevalence of enteric protozoa in HIV-positive and HIV negative men who have sex with men from Sydney, Australia. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 76, 549-552.

Reichel, M.P., Ellis, J.T. and Dubey, J.P. (2007) Neosporosis and hammondiosis in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice 48, 308-312.

Stark, D., van Hal, S., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2007) Irritable bowel syndrome: A review on the role of intestinal protozoa and the importance of their detection and diagnosis. International Journal for Parasitology 37, 11-20.

van Hal, S., Stark, D., Fotedar, R., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2007) Amebiasis-an emerging problem in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia 186, 412-416.

Fotedar, R., Stark, D., Beebe, N., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2007) Laboratory diagnostic techniques for Entamoeba species. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 20, 511-32.

Fotedar, R., Stark, D., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness J. (2008) Entamoeba moshkovskii infections in Sydney, Australia. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis27, 133-137.

Stark, D., Phillips, O., Peckett, D., Munro, U., Marriott, D., Harkness, J. and Ellis, J. (2008) Gorillas are a host for Dientamoeba fragilis: An update on the life cycle and host distribution. Veterinary Parasitology 151, 21-26.

Stark, D., van Hal, S., Fotedar, R., Butcher, A., Marriott, D., Ellis, J. and Harkness, J. (2008) Comparison of stool antigen detection kits to PCR for diagnosis of amoebiasis. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 46, 1678-1681.

Barrett, J., Al-Qassab, S., Reichel, M. and Ellis, J. (2008) The development and evaluation of a nested PCR assay for detection of Neospora caninum and Hammondia heydorni in feral mouse tissues. Molecular and Cellular Probes 22, 228-233.

Sotirchos, I.M., Hudson, A.L., Ellis, J. and Davey, M.W. (2008) Thioredoxins of a parasitic nematode: comparison of the 16- and 12-kDA thioredoxins from Haemonchus contortus. Free Radical Biology & Medicine 44, 2026-2033.

Ellis, J., Miller, C., Quinn, H., Ryce, C. And Reichel, M.P. (2008) Evaluation of recombinant proteins of Neospora caninum as vaccine candidates (in a mouse model). Vaccine 26, 5989-96.