Stefan Oehlers

Biography 

Dr Stefan Oehlers completed his PhD at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 2012 establishing zebrafish models of inflammatory bowel disease and performing small molecule screens to identify anti-inflammatory drugs in the Crosier lab. He trained in zebrafish models of tuberculosis and cryptococcal meningitis at Duke University School of Medicine (Durham, NC, USA) in the lab of A/Prof David Tobin from 2012-2016. In 2016 he established an independent laboratory at the Centenary Institute (Sydney, Australia) which combined all of his infection and immunity research interests. Stefan was promoted to the rank of Senior Research Fellow at The University of Sydney and Associate Faculty at the Centenary Institute. Since 2022, Stefan has relocated to A*STAR ID Labs to lead the Bacterial Pathogenesis Laboratory.

Research Focus 

The primary research focuses of the Bacterial Pathogenesis Laboratory are the identification of host and bacterial factors that are necessary for mycobacterial disease. By identifying the molecular basis of mycobacterial pathogenesis we are able to deploy specific host-directed therapies that can help overcome the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in mycobacterial infections. As the zebrafish is such a visually accessible model, most of our work starts with the observation of a conserved pathology and then working backwards through the use of gene editing an small molecule chemical biology tools to determine if a process is beneficial or detrimental during infection.

Other research interests include the creation of new zebrafish infectious disease models, in vivo drug/antibiotic screening, live imaging immune cell biology.

Lab Members

Postdocs (PhD)Research OfficersPhD/Undergraduate Students
David M COSTA Darryl HANXiangyu SUI
Manitosh PANDEYDenise WEE 
Claire HONNEY
 

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