Dr Robert Moore: leading research to modulate host responses

Dr Robert Moore is a molecular biologist working to improve poultry health and productivity by developing vaccines and therapeutics for the poultry industry.

• 22 July 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Robert Moore leads the 'Modulation of host responses' research team at CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong, Australia. Work in his laboratory is supported by the Australian Poultry Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

Dr Moore has established microarray and next-generation sequencing facilities within the Australian Centre for Poultry Immunogenomics, which is located at AAHL and dedicated to developing new medicines and vaccines to fight poultry diseases.

Dr Moore's research team is working on:

• bacterial pathogenesis, including Clostridium perfringens virulence factors
  • C. perfringens causes a variety of enteric and other diseases in humans and animals. Our basic research on C. perfringens infections in chickens aims to shed light on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic enteritis disease pathogenesis. We identified the toxin NetB, which plays a key role in disease pathogenesis, and are now studying other essential virulence factors. This work is part of an ongoing collaboration with Prof. Julian Rood’s group at Monash University.
    Dr Moore has authored approximately fifty peer-reviewed journal publications and is an inventor on eight patents.
• vaccine development, including antigen discovery in Clostridium perfringens and Campylobacter jejuni
  • Our vaccine work with C. perfringens is aimed at developing a vaccine to protect chickens from necrotic enteritis, a disease estimated to cost the global chicken industry US$2 billion a year. This work is supported by the Australian Poultry CRC and is carried out in collaboration with Prof. Julian Rood’s group at Monash University.
  • The food-borne bacterial pathogen C. jejuni is the major cause of food poisoning in Australia. Our work on C. jejuni, funded by the Australian Poultry CRC, is aimed at developing a vaccine to reduce the carriage of C. jejuni in chickens. Improperly prepared chicken meat is believed to be an important source of C. jejuni food poisoning in humans. A reduction in the level of C. jejuni carried in chickens is predicted to reduce the number of human food poisoning cases
• development of bacterial vectors (including Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus vectors) for live delivery of vaccine antigens and therapeutic proteins
  • Our vaccine development work is aimed at gut pathogens. It can be difficult to produce a strong and appropriate immune response to gut pathogens using conventional vaccination methods. We are therefore developing a number of bacterial isolates as potential live delivery vectors that could not only deliver vaccine antigens to the gut mucosal surfaces but also be enhanced with other functional molecules such as cytokines and antimicrobial proteins.
• host-pathogen interactions in chicken, including host response to various bacterial and viral infections
  • We use microarray analysis to investigate changes in host gene expression during the course of bacterial and viral infections in the chicken. Such studies inform us about the biochemical pathways that are activated in response to microbial infections. A greater understanding of the cellular responses to infection will help direct efforts to develop therapeutic and prophylactic products.
• the impact of gut microbiota on health and productivity of chickens. This work includes characterisation of microbiota, host gene expression and discovery of new pathogens
  • We are using 454 sequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons to characterise gut microbiota. We are looking for microbial correlates with increased energy utilisation as a way to direct the isolation of bacteria that could be useful as probiotics. We are also using microbial profiling to investigate polymicrobial interactions in disease pathogenesis and in the search for previously unrecognised bacterial causes of some diseases.
• pigeon milk biology, including study of avian 'lactation' and search for bioactives
  • Pigeons, and a few other birds, produce a nutritive substance that is functionally equivalent to mammalian milk. We are studying the biology of how this 'pigeon milk' is produced and whether it contains biologically active molecules such as the antibodies, antimicrobials and growth factors found in mammalian milk.
• the role of small RNAs in cellular development. This work includes bioinformatic analysis of microRNA-mRNA interactions.
  • MicroRNAs play an important role in the control of gene expression. The interaction networks between miRNAs and mRNAs can be very complex. We are using bioinformatic approaches for predicting and analysing miRNA-mRNA interactions to identify functional and evolutionary aspects of the development of these complex gene control networks.

Researchers in Dr Moore's laboratory include:

• Postdoctoral Fellows:
  • Anthony Keyburn – Clostridium perfringens vaccine development
  • Karen Lodge – Campylobacter jejuni vaccine development
  • Dana Stanley – Microarray and metagenome analysis.
• Research Scientists
  • Volker Haring – Bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing
  • Honglei Chen – Next-generation sequencing
  • Kathy Sproat – Vaccine development.

Dr Moore is currently supervising six doctoral students:

• Ben Wade, Monash University – 'Clostridium perfringens virulence'
• Meagan Gillespie, Deakin University – 'Pigeon milk biology'
• Barb Konsak, University of Adelaide – 'Gene expression in the chicken gastrointestinal tract'
• Amit Kumar, Deakin University – 'Bioinformatics of microRNA-mRNA interactions'
• Rachel Adamson, Monash University – 'Development of Lactobacillus as a live delivery vector for use in chickens'
• Xuxia Yan, Monash University – 'Functional analysis of NetB toxin'.

Dr Moore is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is also a member of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics.

Background 

After earning his doctorate, Dr Moore undertook Postdoctoral Fellowships at the:

• European Molecular Biology Organisation, University of Edinburgh, UK, working on a bacterial insertion sequence
• Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, UK (now Cancer Research UK), working on a retrovirus and the oncogene that it activates.

He then worked with a multi-national animal health company on anti-parasite vaccine projects and developing a recombinant protein production system and managing a pilot-scale plant for its manufacture.

Dr Moore joined CSIRO in 1994 to investigate the potential of the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis as a live vaccine vector. C. pseudotuberculosis causes cheesy gland, a disease that affects sheep and goats throughout Australia.

In subsequent projects Dr Moore improved the methods used for whole-genome expression library immunisation. He applied these improvements to an antigen discovery project involving Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, the bacterium that causes porcine enzootic pneumonia – a disease commonly seen in growing and finishing pigs.

Dr Moore has supervised seven doctoral students who have graduated:

• David Stephenson, Australian National University – 'Persistent strains of Lactobacillus'
• Anthony Keyburn, Monash University – 'Role of Clostridium perfringens toxins'
• Scott Sheedy, Monash University – 'Use of E. coli as a live vector'
• Luke Lambeth, Deakin University – 'Bovine PolIII promoters for RNA interference'
• Kathy Granger, Monash University – 'IS900 in Mycobacterium paratuberculosis'
• Sandra McKean, Monash University – 'Regulated genes of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis'
• Tony Davis, RMIT University – 'Antigens of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae'.

Academic qualifications 

Dr Moore has been awarded a Bachelor of Science with Honours and a Doctor of Philosophy, both from Monash University.

His doctoral thesis was entitled 'The physical and genetic organisation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa plasmid R91-5'.

Achievements 

Dr Moore has authored approximately fifty peer-reviewed journal publications and is an inventor on eight patents. He has also reviewed papers for a wide range of journals.

From 1996-2006, Dr Moore served on the editorial board of the journal Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry.

Dr Moore also:

• serves on the AAHL Institutional Biosafety Committee
• is on the Executive Committee of the Victorian Infection and Immunity Network
• is a member of the American Society for Microbiology
• has been on the organising committee for a range of conferences
• has reviewed research grants for a range of funding agencies including the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the European Science Foundation
• is a current member of the Australian Government’s Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee.

Learn more about CSIRO research on Mitigation of disease impact through modification of the host response.