Dr Michelle Moffitt

• Qualifications
• Biography
• Research
• Selected Publications
• Grants/Current Projects
• Teaching Interests
• Awards/Honours
• Professional Activities

Qualifications 

 PhD; BAdvSc

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Biography

Dr Michelle Moffitt completed her undergraduate degree at the University of New South Wales and continued on to honours and PhD at the same university. The focus of her PhD research was the genetic characterisation of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) of the genus Nodularia, which regularly forms toxic blooms in some areas of southern Australia, resulting in a decrease in the quality of drinking water. Important outcomes of the research include the identification and characterisation of the complete set of genes responsible for the biosynthesis of the toxin produced by Nodularia.  Michelle's PhD was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a CRC for Water Quality and Treatment award. Part of her PhD research was conducted internationally through a short-term student visitor program at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Michelle completed her PhD in 2003 and was awarded the Australian Society for Microbiology research fellowship. She then took a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Arizona for two years and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego for one year. Her research during that time specifically involved characterisation of natural product biosynthetic enzymes and gene clusters from cyanobacteria and streptomycetes. Michelle started at UWS in 2006 as a lecturer in Microbiology in the School of Exercise and Health Sciences. In 2009 Michelle was promoted to senior lecturer.

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Research

The focus of Michelle's research is in the field of bacterial natural product biosynthesis with a specific focus on the photosynthetic bacteria, cyanobacteria. Natural products generally refer to bioactive molecules with pharmaceutical benefits, however, many cyanobacterial blooms produce molecules which can be toxic to humans. This work aims to deepen our understanding of the genetic basis for natural product biosynthesis and environmental cues which trigger increased toxicity of cyanobacterial blooms.

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Selected Publications

Selected Publications

Pearson, L.A., Moffitt, M.C., Ginn, H.P., and Neilan, B.A. (2008). The molecular genetics and regulation of cyanobacterial peptide hepatotoxin biosynthesis. Critical Reviews in Toxicology. 30(10):847-56.

Moffitt, M.C., Louie, G.V., Bowman, M.E., Pence, J., Noel, J.P., and Moore, B.S. (2007). Discovery of two cyanobacterial phenylalanine ammonia lyases: Kinetic and structural characterization. Biochemistry. 46(4):1004-12.

Winter, J.M., Moffitt, M.C., Zazopoulos, E., McAlpine, J.B., Dorrestein, P.C., and Moore, B.S. (2007). Molecular basis for chloronium-mediated meroterpene cyclization: Cloning, sequencing, and heterologous expression of the napyradiomycin biosynthetic gene cluster. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 282(22):16362-8.

Hicks, L.M., Moffitt, M.C., Beer, L.L., Kelleher, N.L., and Moore, B.S. (2006). In vivo and in vitro processing of the microcystin synthetase loading module with diverse phenylpropanoids. ACS Chemical Biology. 1(2):93b102. (b These authors contributed equally to this work).

Louie, G.V., Bowman, M.E., Moffitt, M.C., Moore, B.S., and Noel, J.P. (2006). Structural determinants and modulation of substrate selection in phenylalanine - tyrosine ammonia lyases. Chemistry and Biology. 13(12):1327-38.

Moffitt, M.C., and Neilan, B.A. (2004). Characterization of the nodularin synthetase gene cluster and proposed evolution of cyanobacterial hepatotoxins. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 70(11):6353-62.

Pomati, F., Moffitt, M.C., Cavaliere, R., and Neilan, B.A. (2004). Evidence for differences in the metabolism of saxitoxin and C1+2 toxins in the freshwater cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii T3. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) b General Subjects. 1674(1):60-7.

Toh, M., Moffitt, M.C., Henrichsen, L., Raftery, M., Barrow, K., Cox, J.M., Marquis, C.P., and Neilan, B.A. (2004). Cereulide, the emetic toxin of Bacillus cereus, is putatively a product of nonribosomal peptide synthesis. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 97(5): 992-1000.

Moffitt, M.C., and Neilan, B.A. (2003). Evolutionary affiliations within the superfamily of ketosynthases reflect complex pathway associations. Journal of Molecular Evolution. 56: 446-457.

Feitz, A.J., Lukondeh, T., Moffitt, M.C., Burns, B.P., Naidoo, D., Della Vedova, J., Gooden, J.M., and Neilan, B.A. (2002). Absence of detectable levels of the cyanobacterial toxin (microcystin-LR) carry-over into milk. Toxicon. 40:1173-80.

Moffitt, M.C., Blackburn, S.I., and Neilan, B.A. (2001). rRNA sequences reflect the ecophysiology and define the toxic cyanobacteria of the genus Nodularia. International Journal of Systematic & Evolutionary Microbiology. 51(Pt 2):505-12.

Moffitt, M.C., and Neilan, B.A. (2001). On the presence of peptide synthetase and polyketide synthase genes in the cyanobacterial genus Nodularia. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 196(2):207-14.

Moffitt, M.C., and Neilan, B.A. (2000). The expansion of mechanistic and organismic diversity associated with non-ribosomal peptides. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 191(2):159-67.

Book Chapters
Moffitt, M.C., and Burns, B.P. (2009). Hapalindole family of cyanobacterial natural products: structure, biosynthesis, and function. In Handbook on Cyanobacteria: Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Applications, Nova Science Publishers (ISBN: 978-1-60741-092-8) pp 429-441.

Neilan, B.A., Pearson, L.A., Moffitt, M.C., Kaebernick, M., Mihali, T.K., Kellmann, R., and Pomati, F. (2008). The genetics and genomics of cyanobacterial toxicity. In Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms: State of the Science and Research Needs. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology Series, Springer (ISBN: 978-0-387-75864-0) 417-52.

Burns, B.P., Saker, M.L., Moffitt, M.C., and Neilan, B.A. (2004). Molecular detection of the genes responsible for cyanobacterial toxin production in the genera Microcystis, Nodularia and Cylindrospermopsis. Methods in Molecular Biology. 268: 213-22.

Neilan, B.A., Moffitt, M.C., Mills, T., Kellmann, R., and Burns, B.P. (2002). Novel options for strategic management of water bodies afflicted by harmful algal blooms: The molecular genetics of cyanobacteria. Water Quality Technology (ISBN 1-58321-251-5) 1-17.

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Grants/Current projects

Michelle's research is funded by the ARC and UWS grant schemes.

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Teaching Interests

Current teaching includes second year Microbiology and first year Biodiversity.

Dr. Moffitt also currently supervises PhD and honours students

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Awards/Honours

Australian Society for Microbiology Research Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship (2003)

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Professional Activities

Dr Moffitt is a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology

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