About Dr Dee Carter
Microorganisms are an unseen but vital part of our daily lives. My interest is in using molecular methods to probe their secret lives, and inform us of their potential to help or harm us.
The ecology and population genetics of pathogenic fungi and symbiotic algae
I began my academic position at the University of Sydney in 1995, Over the past 10 years I have established myself as a leading researcher in cryptococcal genetics, with particular respect to the molecular ecology and population genetics that underlie infection by Cryptococcus gattii. Recent recognition of this work has resulted in invitations to speak at the 4th (Australia, 2002) and 5th (USA, 2005) International meetings on Cryptococcus and Cryptococcus, and at the 23rd International Fungal Genetics meeting (USA, 2005). From 2000-2005 I received major funding for my work on C. gattii from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute under the International Scholars Program, which is given to only 45 researchers worldwide. I have recently been invited as one of only 35-40 scientists worldwide to participate in a special, fully financed colloquium organised by the American Society for Microbiology entitled “The Fungal Kingdom: Diverse and Essential Roles in Earth's Ecosystem”, to be held in Tuscon, Arizona, in November 2007. Over the past 10 years I have supervised thirteen PhD (9 as primary and 4 as associate supervisor), one MSc and 20 honours theses to completion, and my research group currently consists of three PhD students, two postdoctoral fellows, two honours students and a part-time research assistant. I have a particular interest in postgraduate teaching and last year was nominated by six of my former PhD students for an international award in postgraduate supervision. I have hosted visiting scientists from France, Britain, Viet Nam and Iran, who have learnt molecular techniques and their application to fungi in my laboratory. I have active international collaborations in Asia, Europe and the United States I am currently head of the Discipline of Microbiology. I teach and coordinate courses in second and third year microbiology and run practical classes in third year molecular medical microbiology.
Selected publications
- Campbell, L.T., Currie, B.J., Krockenberger, M. Malik, R., Meyer, W., Heitman, J. and Carter, D.A. Clonality and recombination in genetically differentiated subgroups of Cryptococcus gattii. Eukaryotic Cell 4: 1403-1409 (2005) PubMedId: 16087745
- Campbell, L.T., Fraser, J.A., Nichols, C.B., Dietricht, F., Carter, D.A. and Heitman, J. Identification of Australian clinical and environmental isolates of Cryptococcus gattii that retain sexual fecundity. Eukaryotic Cell 4: 1410-1415 (2005) PubMedId: 16087746
- Lim, S., Notley-McRobb, L., Lim, M. and Carter, D.A. A comparison of the nature and abundance of microsatellites in fourteen fungal genomes. Fungal Genetics and Biology 41:1025-1036 (2004) PMID: 15465391 PubMedId: 15465391
- Moore, R.B., Ferguson, K.M., Loh, W.K.W., Hoegh-Guldberg, O. and Carter, D.A. Highly organised structure in the non-coding region of the psbA minicircle from clade C Symbiodinium. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53: 1725-1734 (2003) PubMedId: 14657100
- Halliday, C.L. and Carter, D.A. Clonal reproduction and limited dispersal in an environmental population of Cryptococcus neoformans isolates from Australia. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 41:703-711 (2003) PubMedId: 12574270
- Carter, D.A., Taylor, J.W., Dechairo, B. Burt, A., Koenig, G.L. and White, T.J. Amplified Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and a (GA)n microsatellite marker reveal genetic differentiation between populations of Histoplasma capsulatum from the Americas. Fungal Genetics and Biology 34: 37-48 (2001) PubMedId: 11567550
- Halliday, C.L., Bui, T., Krockenberger, M., Malik, R., Ellis, D.H. and Carter, D.A. Presence of _lpha and a mating types in environmental and clinical collections of Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii strains from Australia. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 37: 2920-2926 (1999) PubMedId: 10449476
- Carter, D.A., Buck, K.W., Archer, S.A., Van der Lee, T., Shattock, R.C & Shaw, D.S. The detection of non-hybrid, trisomic and triploid offspring in sexual progeny of a mating of Phytophthora infestans. Fungal Genetics and Biology 26: 198-208 (1999) PubMedId: 10361034
- Burt, A., Carter, D.A., Koenig, G.L., White, T.J. & Taylor, J.W. Molecular markers reveal cryptic sex in the human pathogen Coccidioides immitis. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 93:770-773 (1996). PubMedId: 8570632
- Carter, D.A., Desmarais, E., Bellis, M., Campion, D., Clerget-Darpoux. F., Brice, A., Agid, Y., Jaillard-Serradt, A. & Mallet, J. More missense in amyloid gene. Nature Genetics. 2 : 255-256 (1992). PubMedId: 1303275