Advisory Board and Editors Microbiology
Torsten Thomas
Torsten holds a MSc (1996) from the University of Bonn (Germany) and a PhD (2001) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He has been a Fellow of the American-Australian Association (2005), an ARC PostDoctoral Fellowship (2006-2009), a Senior Lecturer (2009-2012), an Associate Professor (2013-) and an ARC Future Fellow (2015-) at the School of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences (BABS) and the Centre of Marine Bio-Innovation (CMB) at UNSW. In 2016 he became the Director of the CMB and was appointed Full Professor in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) at UNSW in 2017. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers in the broad area of environmental microbiology and microbial ecology. His current research interest cover the interactions (symbiosis/disease) between bacteria and marine invertebrates and macroalgae, the evolution of microbial populations and communities and the impact of biochar on microbial process in soil.
Cristiane C Thompson
Professor of Genetics of the Institute of Biology of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Our research group focuses mainly on marine microbiology.
Fabiano Thompson
Oceanographer and Professor of Marine Biology of the Institute of Biology and SAGE-COPPE of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Our research group focuses mainly on marine microbiology.
Steven YC Tong
Infectious diseases physician at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital. Co-head Translational and Clinical Research and Co-head Indigenous Health at Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne. Deputy Chair of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network.
Jana M U'Ren
Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University. PhD in Plant Pathology and Microbiology from The University of Arizona. Research focus on the ecology and evolution of fungal endophytes.
Carine Van Lint
After performing her PhD thesis at the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, USA) from 1991 to 1994 and a postdoctoral fellowship in New York from 1994 to 1997, Carine Van Lint joined the Faculty of Sciences of the "Université Libre de Bruxelles" as the head of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology. As a biochemist, Carine Van Lint has developed for the last 25 years a specific interest for pathogenic retroviruses. Her laboratory is mainly studying the role played by epigenetic modifications (such as histone acetylation, histone methylation and DNA methylation) and by non-epigenetic regulatory elements in transcriptional latency and reactivation of HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 - the ethiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)), BLV (Bovine Leukemia Virus - the etiologic agent of a chronic lymphoproliferative disease termed enzootic bovine leucosis) and HTLV-1 (Human T-cell leukemia virus 1 - the etiologic agent of an aggressive lymphoproliferative disease (Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma) and a neurological degenerative syndrome (tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM)).
Francois Vandenesch
Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine. Head of the clinical microbiology department and head of a research INSERM team in the field of staphylococcal pathogenesis. Head of the French Reference Center for Staphylococci.
Thiago M Venancio
Associate Professor (UENF; Brazil), 2010-present; Postdoctoral fellow at NCBI-NIH (USA), 2008-2010; PhD in Bioinformatics (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), 2004-2008.
My lab focuses on genomic and transcriptomic studies of plants, fungi and bacteria. Our main goals involve the generation and analysis of big biological datasets using computational methods to understand key aspects of living organisms, such as: 1) the evolution of multidrug resistance genes in Fungi; 2) the evolutionary basis of gene essentiality in Bacteria and Archaea; 3) the transcriptional landscape and regulatory apparatus of land plants, particularly legumes.
Balu Alagar Venmathi Maran
Dr. Balu Alagar Venmathi Maran, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Japan
Dr. Balu Alagar Venmathi Maran is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Japan. He previously served as an Associate Professor at the Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia, from 2017 to 2023. Before that, he was a Research Professor at Chonnam National University, Pukyong National University, and Kyungpook National University, South Korea (2015–2017) and a Scientist at the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan, South Korea (2011–2015).
Dr. Venmathi Maran earned his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Hiroshima University, Japan, and has 25 years of research experience in marine science and aquaculture. His expertise includes the taxonomy of marine fish parasites and the application of natural products for parasite control in aquaculture. Additionally, his research focuses on jellyfish biodiversity, harmful jellyfish toxins, and the potential of jellyfish collagen in cosmetics.
Currently, he is engaged in a marine science and technology project utilizing artificial intelligence in biological imaging. His significant contributions to research and innovation have been recognized with multiple awards and gold medals from UMS.
Dr. Venmathi Maran has authored over 100 research articles, 10 book chapters, and has edited three books published by Springer and UMS Press. As the principal investigator of several research projects, including an international project on marine biodiversity, he plays a key role in advancing marine research.
Additionally, he serves as an Academic Editor for PeerJ (Q1), International Journal of Microbiology (Wiley), and Diversity (MDPI) as a Guest Editor, along with several other scientific journals.
Martha Vives
Full professor, Biological Sciences Department, Los Andes University. Vice dean for Research Affairs, School of Sciences. Past coordinator for the Microbiology program.
Jianjun Wang
Dr. Jianjun Wang is Professor of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He studies microbial biogeography and global change. His main topics are related to the questions on how microbial diversity and community composition varied within Earth’s surface and subsurface, especially aquatic environments. He is using self-obtained large microbial data sets, in-situ experiments, as well as modeling methods to achieve these answers.
Liang Wang
Prof. Wang is currently a tenured full professor and distinguished medical researcher at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, where he leads a research group in intelligent medicine, digital health, and clinical microbiology. He is also an adjunct research fellow at the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland (2023-2026), adjunct research fellow at the Division of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Australia (2023-2026), and associate professor (Nov. 2022-Oct. 2025) at the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia. Prof. Wang is a supervisor for PhD students at South China University of Technology (SCUT), MSc students at South Medical University (SMU) and Xuzhou Medical University (XZMU), and also supervises PhD students at the University of Queensland and the University of Western Australia.
Prof. Wang was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the University of Western Australia in 2014 and received his postdoctoral training at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) and Curtin University (Perth, Australia). Prof. Wang serves as an associate editor at Journal of Translational Medicine, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Gene Reports. He also serves as an editorial board member at BMC Microbiology, BMC Bioinformatics, Heliyon (Advisory Member), PLOS One (Academic Editor), Immunity, Inflammation and Disease (Emerging Editor), Translational Metabolic Syndrome Research, Future Integrative Medicine, Frontiers in Bioinformatics, iMeta, and Medicine Advances, etc. Prof. Wang is frequently invited to review manuscripts for multiple journals such as Lancet Digital Health, etc.
Prof. Wang has edited seven books and published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers in international journals such as The Lancet Microbe, npj Digital Medicine, Trends in Analytical Chemistry, ISME J, Journal of Advanced Research, BMJ Health & Care Informatics, etc. He is the recipient of the Rising Star Award in Measurement Science by the American Society for Chemistry and Australia-China Helicobacter Research Fellowship (2019), awarded by the Australia-China Council and Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Barry Marshall.