Liz Harry

2004 – present              Associate Professor, University of Technology,
                                 Sydney
2000 - 2004                  ARC QEII Fellow, University of Sydney.
1995 - 1998                  ARC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Sydney.
1993 - 1994                  NIH Fogarty Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University.

Research Interests

Our primary research interest is how bacterial cells divide and how they regulate this process. Cell division is essential for survival. What are the cues that signal cells to divide at the right place and at the right time? How do cells ensure that when division occurs to produce two newborn cells, each one receives the correct amount of DNA? The answers to these questions are essential to understand how organisms reproduce and grow. But they remain unknown. Research in my laboratory addresses these questions in bacteria to gain an understanding of the regulation of this vital process and to facilitate the design of novel antibiotics that target it. We are currently collaborating with the Proteome Systems Ltd in an antimicrobial drug discovery program.

Ten Most Significant Publications

1 Lock, R.L. and Harry, E.J. (2007) Cell division inhibitors: new insights for future antibiotics. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery In press. Accepted 21st December, 2007.

2. Peters, P.C., Migocki, M.D., Thoni, C. and Harry, E.J. (2007) A new assembly pathway for the cytokinetic Z ring from a dynamic helical structure in vegetatively growing cells of B. subtilis. Molecular Microbiology 64, 487-499.

3. Thompson, L.S., Beech, P.L., Real, G., Henriques, A.O. and Harry, E.J. (2006) Requirement for the Cell Division Protein DivIB in Polar Cell Division and Engulfment during Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. Journal of Bacteriology 188, 7677-7685.

4. E.J. Harry, L.G. Monahan, L.S. Thompson (2006) Bacterial cell division: the mechanism and its precision. International Review of Cytology: A Survey of Cell Biology. Kwang W. Jeon, Ed., 253, 27-94.

5. K.A. Michie, L.G. Monahan, P.L. Beech and E.J. Harry (2006) Trapping of a Spiral-Like Intermediate of the Bacterial Cytokinetic Protein, FtsZ. Journal of Bacteriology. 188, 1680-1690.

6. E.J. Harry and P.J. Lewis (2003) Early Targeting of Min Proteins to the Cell Poles in Germinated Spores of Bacillus subtilis: Evidence for Division Apparatus-Independent Recruitment of Min Proteins to the Division Site. Mol. Microbiol. 47, 37-48.

7. M.D. Migocki, M.K. Freeman, R.G. Wake and E.J. Harry (2002) The Min system is not required for precise placement of the midcell division site in Bacillus subtilis. EMBO Reports 3, 1163-1167.

8. E.J. Harry (2001) Bacterial cell division: regulating Z ring formation. Mol. Microbiol. 40, 795-803.

9. E. J. Harry and R. G. Wake (1997) The membrane-bound cell division protein DivIB is localized to the division site in Bacillus subtilis. Mol. Microbiol. 25, 275-283.

10. A.E.M. Hofmeister, A. Londono-Vallejo, E. J. Harry, P. Stragier and R. Losick (1995) Extracellular signal protein triggering the proteolytic activation of a developmental transcription factor in B. subtilis. Cell 83, 219-226.