Jennifer L Wood Australian Microbial Ecology 2017

Jennifer L Wood

Dr Wood is the co-laboratory head of the Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) Group at La Trobe University in Melbourne Australia. Dr Wood’s work focuses on developing holistic approaches to utilizing microbial communities for applied outcomes and encompasses diverse research areas including: ecology, heavy metal bioremediation, microbial corrosion, and agriculture. Dr Wood completed her doctoral research with Prof Ashley Franks at La Trobe University in 2017. Her research, which investigated soil microbiomes associated with heavy metal bioremediation, was awarded DSI top-up funding and received the ‘Nancy Millis award for theses of exceptional merit’. Following her role leading the research on an Next Generation Technology sponsored CERA Pilot project investigating microbial induced corrosion in Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Collins Class Submarines, Dr Wood commenced her first post-doctoral role on a RAN supported project investigating the microbial ecology underpinning corrosion processes at Swinburne University of Technology with Assoc Prof Scott Wade. As part of this research team she was awarded the 2019 Swinburne Vice Chancellor award for industry engagement. In 2020 she returned to La Trobe and is currently leading the environmental research stream within the AEM laboratory. Dr Wood is a National Geographic Explorer, having been awarded an Explorer Grant in 2019. In 2020 her research was shortlisted for the Nature Research Awards for Inspiring and Innovating Science.