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Professor Liz Harry

Professor of Biology, School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences
Core Member, ithree institute

BSc (Hons) (Syd), PhD (Syd)

Email: Elizabeth.Harry@uts.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9514 4173
Fax: +61 2 9514 4143
Room: CB04.06.52C (map)
Mailing address: PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia

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Biography

Liz Harry is Associate Professor and principal investigator at the Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases (IBID) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). After obtaining her PhD at the University of Sydney, Liz went to Harvard University as a National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) Postdoctoral Fellow. At Harvard she pioneered the development of fluorescence microscopy techniques for ‘seeing’ where proteins are in a bacterial cell. These techniques have revolutionized our view of the internal organization of bacterial cells Liz then returned to Australia as an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellow, and subsequently, an ARC QEII Fellow in the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences at the University of Sydney. Her research on bacterial cell division has had a significant impact on our understanding of how bacterial cells multiply, and how they control this process to ensure equal partitioning of chromosomes vital for survival. She is now working with industry to develop novel antibiotics that target this process in pathogens, and to examine how natural products function as effective therapeutics for infectious disease. In 2002 Liz was awarded the Australian Eureka Prize for Scientific research, and recently won the 2008 ASM Frank Fenner Award, awarded by the Australian Society for Microbiology in recognition of her distinguished contributions to Australian research in microbiology.

Teaching areas

Subject Coordinator and Lecturer for Introductory Pharmacology and Microbiology to Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery students at UTS.

Antibiotic Resistance Tutorial, 2nd year Bachelor of Biotechnology students at UTS.

Research

Research interests
Liz Harry’s primary research interest is how bacterial cells divide and how they regulate this process. Cell division is essential for survival, colonisation and infection. 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 Liz’s laboratory addresses these questions in bacteria to gain an understanding of the regulation of this vital process both in culture and in the host during infection to facilitate the design of novel therapeutics that target it.
Liz has successfully partnered with industry in the areas of antimicrobial drug discovery and natural product therapeutics.

Research supervision: Yes

Projects

Selected Peer-Assessed Projects

Identifying how bacterial cells find their middle: a new perspective

Targeting nucleic acid synthesis and cell division in gram-negative bacterial pathogens

Bacterial filamentation as a survival strategy: a goldmine for the discovery of new cell division regulators

Investigating the Ability of Honey to Inhibit Bacterial Biofilms Found in Chronic Wounds

Bacterial Cell Biology: Investigating an Optical Revolution

Establishing how bacterial cells position the division site

Nucleic Acid Synthesis and Cell Division in Model Pathogenic Bacteria

Bacterial Proteomics: From Cell Division to Novel Antibiotic Targets

Bacterial cell division: discovering how it begins and the network of protein interactions it requires

Investigating a novel mechanism for controlling multiplication of bacteria- Scientific Visits to Japan 2011

Publications

Book chapters

Monahan, L.G., D'Elia, M. & Harry, E. 2011, 'Mining bacterial cell division for new antibacterial drugs' in Alita A. Miller, Paul F. Miller (eds), Emerging Trends in Antibacterial Discovery: Answering the Call to Arms, Caister Academic Press, United Kingdom, pp. 35-75.
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Harry, E., Monahan, L.G. & Thompson, L. 2006, 'Bacterial cell division: themechanism and its precision' in Jeon KW (ed), International Review of Cytology: A Survey of Cell biology Volume 253, Elsevier, The netherlands, pp. 27-94.
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Journal articles

Lu, J., Carter, D.A., Turnbull, L., Rosendale, D., Hedderley, D., Stephens, J., Gannabathula, S., Steinhorn, G., Schlothauer, R.C., Whitchurch, C.B. & Harry, E. 2013, 'The effect of New Zealand kanuka, manuka and clover honeys on bacterial growth dynamics and cellular morphology varies according to the species', PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 2, p. e55898.

Muller, P., Alber, D.G., Turnbull, L., Schlothauer, R.C., Carter, D.A., Whitchurch, C.B. & Harry, E. 2013, 'Synergism between medihoney and rifampicin against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)', PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 2, p. e57679.

Packer, J.M., Irish, J.L., Herbert, B.R., Hill, C., Padula, M.P., Blair, S., Carter, D. & Harry, E. 2012, 'Specific Non-Peroxide Antibacterial Effect Of Manuka Honey On The Staphylococcus Aureus Proteome', International Journal Of Antimicrobial Agents, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 43-50.
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Rodrigues, C.D. & Harry, E. 2012, 'The Min System And Nucleoid Occlusion Are Not Required For Identifying The Division Site In Bacillus Subtilis But Ensure Its Efficient Utilization', PLoS Genetics, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1-20.
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Strauss, M.P., Liew, A.T., Turnbull, L., Whitchurch, C.B., Monahan, L.G. & Harry, E. 2012, '3D-SIM super resolution microscopy reveals a bead-like arrangement for FtsZ and the division machinery: implications for triggering cytokinesis', Plos Biology, vol. 10, no. 9, p. e1001389.
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Liew, A.T., Theis, T., Jensen, S.O., Garcia-Lara, J., Foster, S., Firth, N., Lewis, P.G. & Harry, E. 2011, 'A simple plasmid-based system that allows rapid generation of tightly controlled gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus', Microbiology, vol. 157, pp. 666-676.
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Peters, P.C., Cox, G., Monahan, L.G. & Harry, E. 2011, 'Super-resolution imaging of the bacterial cytokinetic protein FtsZ', Micron, vol. 42, no. 4 Special Issue, pp. 336-341.
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Moriya, S., Rashid, R.A., Rodrigues, C.D. & Harry, E. 2010, 'Influence of the nucleoid and the early stages of DNA replication on positioning the division site in Bacillus subtilis', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 76, no. 3, pp. 634-647.
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Blair, S., Cokcetin, N., Harry, E. & Carter, D. 2009, 'The unusual antibacterial activity of medical-grade Leptospermum honey: antibacterial spectrum, resistance and transcriptome analysis', European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infecti..., vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 1199-1208.
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Monahan, L.G., Robinson, A.J. & Harry, E. 2009, 'Lateral Ftsz Association And The Assembly Of The Cytokinetic Z Ring In Bacteria', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 1004-1017.
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Moriya, S., Kawai, Y., Kaji, S., Smith, A.C., Harry, E. & Errington, J. 2009, 'Effects of oriC relocation on control of replication initiation in Bacillus subtilis', Microbiology-uk, vol. 155, pp. 3070-3082.
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Lock, R.L. & Harry, E. 2008, 'Cell-division inhibitors: new insights for future antibiotics', Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7, no. April, pp. 324-338.
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Wadsworth, K.D., Rowland, S.L., Harry, E. & King, G.F. 2008, 'The divisomal protein DivIB contains multiple epitopes that mediate its recruitment to incipient division sites', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 1143-1155.
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Peters, P.C., Migocki, M., Thoni, C. & Harry, E. 2007, 'A new assembly pathway for the cytokinetic Z ring from a dynamic helical structure in vegetatively growing cells of Bacillus subtilis', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 487-499.
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Herbert, B.R., Grinyer, J., Mccarthy, J., Isaacs, M., Harry, E., Nevalainen, H.K., Traini, M., Hunt, S., Schulz, B., Laver, M., Goodall, A.R., Packer, J.M., Harry, J.L. & Williams, K. 2006, 'Improved 2-DE of microorganisms after acidic extraction', Electrophoresis, vol. 27, no. 8, pp. 1630-1640.
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Michie, K.A., Monahan, L.G., Beech, P.L. & Harry, E. 2006, 'Trapping of a spiral-like intermediate of the bacterial cytokinetic protein FtsZ', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 188, no. 5, pp. 1680-1690.
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Peters, P.C., Thoni, C. & Harry, E. 2006, 'Unexpected photobleaching of Alexa 488 in a fixed bacterial sample during 2-photon excitation', Biotechnic and Histochemistry, vol. 81, no. 2-3, pp. 105-106.
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Thompson, L., Beech, P.L., Real, G., Henriques, A.O. & Harry, E. 2006, 'Requirement for the cell division protein DivIB in polar cell division and engulfment during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 188, no. 21, pp. 7677-7685.
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Hayashi, M., Ogura, Y., Harry, E., Ogasawara, N. & Moriya, S. 2005, 'Bacillus subtilis YabA is involved in determining the timing and synchrony of replication initiation', FEMS Microbiology Letters, vol. 247, no. 1, pp. 73-79.
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Jensen, S.O., Thompson, L. & Harry, E. 2005, 'Cell division in bacillus subtilis: FtsZ and FtsA association is Z-ring independent, and FtsA is required for efficient midcell Z-ring assembly', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 187, no. 18, pp. 6536-6544.
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Real, G., Autret, S., Harry, E., Errington, J. & Henriques, A.O. 2005, 'Cell division protein DivIB influences the Spo0J/Soj system of chromosome segregation in Bacillus subtilis', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 349-367.
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Stephens, A.N., Quach, P. & Harry, E. 2005, 'A streamline approach to high-throughput proteomics', Expert Review Of Proteomics, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 173-185.
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Migocki, M., Lewis, P.J., Wake, R.G. & Harry, E. 2004, 'The midcell replication factory in Bacillus subtilis is highly mobile: implications for coordinating chromosome replication with other cell cycle events', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 452-463.
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Harry, E. & Lewis, P.J. 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', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 37-48.
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Harry, E. 2003, 'The precision of bacterial cell division', Today's Life Science, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 34-37.
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Ogura, Y., Ogasawara, N., Harry, E. & Moriya, S. 2003, 'Increasing the ratio of Soj to SpoOJ levels promotes replication initiation in Bacillus subtilis', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 185, no. 21, pp. 6316-6324.
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Migocki, M., Freeman, M., Wake, R.G. & Harry, E. 2002, 'The Min system is not required for precise placement of the midcell division site in Bacillus subtilis', EMBO Reports, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 1163-1167.
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Robson, S.A., Michie, K.A., Mackay, J., Harry, E. & King, G.F. 2002, 'The Bacillus subtilis cell division proteins FtsL and DivIC are intrinsically unstable and do not interact with one another in the absence of other septasomal components', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 663-674.
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Harry, E. 2001, 'Bacterial cell division: regulating Z ring formation', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 795-803.
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Harry, E. 2001, 'Coordinating DNA replication with cell division: Lessons from outgrowing spores', Biochimie: an international journal of biochemistry ..., vol. 83, pp. 75-81.
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Daniel, R.A., Harry, E. & Errington, J. 2000, 'Role of penicillin-binding protein PBP 2B in assembly and functioning of the division machinery of Bacillus subtilis.', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 299-311.
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Katis, V.L., Wake, R.G. & Harry, E. 2000, 'Septal localization of the membrane-bound division proteins of Bacillus subtilis DivIB and DivIC is codependent only at high temperatures and requires FtsZ', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 182, no. 12, pp. 3607-3611.

Regamy, A., Harry, E. & Wake, R.G. 2000, 'Midcell Z ring assembly in the absence of entry into the elongation phase of the round of replication in bacteria: coordinating chromosome replication with cell division', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 423-434.
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Harry, E., Rodwell, J.J. & Wake, R.G. 1999, 'Coordinating DNA replication with cell division in bacteria: a link between the early stages of a round of replication and mid-cell Z ring assembly', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 33-40.
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Daniel, R.A., Harry, E., Katis, V.L., Wake, R.G. & Errington, J. 1998, 'Characterization Of The Essential Cell Division Gene FtsL (ylld) Of Bacillus Subtilis And Its Role In The Assembly Of The Division Apparatus', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 593-604.
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Harry, E. & Wake, R.G. 1997, 'The membrane-bound cell division protein DivIB is localized to the division site in Bacillus subtilis', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 275-283.
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Katis, V.L., Harry, E. & Wake, R.G. 1997, 'The Bacillus Subtilis Division Protein Divlc Is A Highly Abundant Membrane-bound Protein That Localizes To The Division Site', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1047-1055.
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Harry, E., Pogliano, K. & Losick, R. 1995, 'Use Of Immunofluorescence To Visualize Cell-specific Gene-expression During Sporulation In Bacillus-subtilis', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 177, no. 12, pp. 3386-3393.

Hofmeister, A.E., Londono-Vallejo, A., Harry, E., Stragier, P. & Losick, R. 1995, 'Extracellular signal protein triggering the proteolytic activation of a developmental transcription factor in B. subtilis', Cell, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 219-226.
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Pogliano, K., Harry, E. & Losick, R. 1995, 'Visualisation of the subcellular location of sporulation proteins in Bacillus subtilis using immunofluorescence microscopy', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 459-470.

Harry, E., Partridge, S.R., Weiss, A.S. & Wake, R.G. 1994, 'Conservation Of The 168-divIB Gene In Bacillus subtilis W23 And B. licheniformis, And Evidence For Homology To FtsQ Of Escherichia coli', Gene, vol. 147, no. 1, pp. 85-89.
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Harry, E., Rowland, S.L., Malo, M.S. & Wake, R.G. 1994, 'Expression Of DivIB Of Bacillus-subtilis During Vegetative Growth', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 176, no. 4, pp. 1172-1179.

Harry, E., Stewart, B. & Wake, R.G. 1993, 'Characterization Of Mutations In Divlb Of Bacillus-subtilis And Cellular-localization Of The Divlb Protein', Molecular Microbiology, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 611-621.
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Harry, E., Wake, R.G. 1989, 'Cloning And Expression Of A Bacillus-subtilis Division Initiation Gene For Which A Homolog Has Not Been Identified In Another Organism', Journal Of Bacteriology, vol. 171, no. 12, pp. 6835-6839.