Progress towards developing vaccines for koalas – Professor Peter Timms, USC

Wild koala populations continue to experience serious declines as a result of several threatening factors  including, (i) loss of habitat, (ii) motor vehicle trauma; (iii) dog attacks; (iv) infectious diseases, primarily  Chlamydia, but also the newly discoverd koala retrovirus. Chlamydial infections are associated with  diseases ranging from ocular disease leading to blindness, as well as urinary and genital tract disease,  leading to female infertility. Modeling shows that targeting chlamydial disease would have a major impact  on stabilising population decline.  

Professor Timms is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.  He is a nationally and internationally renowned microbiologist with specific expertise in the area of  Chlamydia and koala retrovirus. His laboratory is acknowledged as the leading Australian laboratory and  one of the leading groups internationally working on all aspects of chlamydial infections.

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