Professor Georgina Hold | UNSW Research

My Expertise

Gut Microbiota; Gut Microbiome, Microbial Therapeutics; Human Microbiota; Human Microbiome; Inflammatory bowel disease

Keywords

host-microbial interactions

microbially induced sedimentary structures

microbial

microbial therapeutics

Fields of Research (FoR)

Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Microbiology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases

SEO tags

Digestive System Disorders

Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) not elsewhere classified

Biography

Professor Georgina Hold is a Professor of Gut Microbiology at the St George and Sutherland Clinical School, UNSW Australia.

Research Interests:

Professor Georgina Hold is a Professor of Gut Microbiology at the St George and Sutherland Clinical School, UNSW Australia.

Research Interests:

Understanding the impact of gastrointestinal microbes on human health and disease. In particular understanding the interactions between resident microbes and their host and how changes in the microbiota impact on human health. Developing greater understanding in this area allows us to further appreciate the contribution that gut microbes play in diseases and potentially develop therapeutic strategies to maintain and restore health. My lab has an internationally renowned reputation for microbiome analysis. This has been achieved by a) developing robust protocols for collecting and processing the most clinically relevant samples, and b) ensuring the science is clinically driven. The main challenges in gut microbiome research relate to defining the metabolic capabilities of the gut microbiota, the effect of therapeutic regimens on the gut microbiota and ultimately identifying how to manipulate these factors to promote/maintain health. This requires multi-disciplinary research strategies harnessing clinicians, microbiologists, nutritionists, epidemiologists, bioinformaticians and also public health analysts. To achieve this we collaborate with groups all over the world to ensure we bring together the skills sets required to address multi-faceted research questions.

Broad Areas of Research:

Inflammatory bowel disease

Gastrointestinal malignancy including liver cancer

Host/Microbial interactions

Microbial therapeutics

Qualifications:
BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry/Toxicology (1995)
PhD (1999)
Fulbright Scholar (2014-2015)

Senior Fellow Higher Education Authority (SFHEA UK)

Society Memberships & Professional Activities:

Member of the British Society of Gastroenterology
Member of the Scottish Society of Gastroenterology

Member of the Scottish Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Society

Member of the Society of General Microbiology (UK)

Member of the Society for Applied Microbiology (UK)

Visiting Scholar: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA; term July 2014 - 2021.

Honorary Academic Appointment, Aberdeen University; 2017 - 2021

Honorary Academic Appointment, University College London; 2014 - 2020

Specific Research Keywords:
Inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, gut microbiota, host microbial interactions, Campylobacter, microbial therapeutics

My Grants

Dates	Award holder(s)	Funding body	Title	Value
2019-2022	Hold, G.L. and El-Omar, E.	Crohns and Colitis Australia	Understanding changes in the gut microbiota following therapeutic intervention in IBD	$75,000
2018/2019	Leong, R., Hold, G.L. /Sydney+ IBD research consortia	GESA (Australian Gastroenterology Society)	The Australian IBD Microbiome Study	$50,000
2018/2019	Lemberg, D., Leach, S., Hold, G.L. and Dutt, S.	Sydney Childrens Hospital Network	The Australian IBD Microbiome Study	$20,000

My Qualifications

INSTITUTION AND LOCATION	DEGREE (if applicable)	Completion Date MM/YYYY	FIELD OF STUDY
University of Surrey, UK University of Glasgow, UK	BSc (Hons) PhD	07/1995 12/1999	Biochemistry/Toxicology Molecular Microbial Ecology

INSTITUTION AND LOCATION

DEGREE

(if applicable)

Completion Date

MM/YYYY

FIELD OF STUDY

University of Surrey, UK

University of Glasgow, UK

BSc (Hons)

PhD

07/1995

12/1999

Biochemistry/Toxicology

Molecular Microbial Ecology

My Awards

Fulbright Scholar, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston (2014-2015)

Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (2017)

My Research Activities

My research focusses on understanding the impact of gastrointestinal microbes on human health and disease, with a specialist interest in inflammatory bowel disease. Developing greater understanding in this area allows us to further appreciate the contribution that gut microbes play in diseases and potentially develop therapeutic strategies to maintain and restore health. My lab has an internationally renowned reputation for microbiome analysis and host:microbial interactions. This has been achieved by a) developing robust protocols for collecting and processing the most clinically relevant samples, and b) ensuring the science is clinically driven. The main challenges in gut microbiome research relate to: 1) defining the point at which microbiota changes occur, which is in advance of clinical symptoms/disease presentation, 2) understanding the metabolic capabilities of the gut microbiota, 3) the effect of therapeutic regimens on the gut microbiota and ultimately identifying how to manipulate these factors to promote/maintain health. This requires multi-disciplinary research strategies harnessing clinicians, microbiologists, nutritionists, epidemiologists, bioinformaticians and also public health analysts. To achieve this, I collaborate with groups all over the world to ensure the skills sets required to address these multi-faceted research questions are brought together.