My research interests centre on fish pathology and marine biotechnology. Specifically, I research the taxonomy, ecology, pathogenicity mechanisms (emphasising haemolysins and extracellular enzymes) and control strategies (principally vaccines and probiotics) for bacterial fish pathogens, especially aeromonads and vibrios. The work on marine biotechnology involves the development of novel antibiotics for the control of antibiotic-resistant strains of human pathogens, notably methicillin-resistant Stapthylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant enterococci.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Rasch, M., Buch, C., Austin, B., Slierendrecht, W.J., Ekmann, K.S., Larsen, J.-L., Johansen, C., Riedel, K., Eberl, L., Givskov, M. and Gram, L. (2004). An inhibitor of bacterial quorum sensing reduces mortalities caused by vibriosis in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum).Systematic and Applied Microbiology 27, 350-359.
Austin, B., Dawyndt, P., Gyllenberg, M., Koski, T., Lund, T., Swings, J. and Thompson, F.L. (2004). Sliding window discretization: a new method for multiple band matching of bacterial genotyping fingerprints. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 66, 1575-1596.
Dawyndt, P., Thompson, F.L., Austin, B., Swings, J., Koski, T. and Gyllenberg, M. (2005).Application of Sliding Window Discretization and Minimization of Stochastic Complexity for the analysis of FAFLP genotyping fingerprint patterns of Vibrionaceae. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 55, 57-66.
Sparagano, O.A.E and Austin, B. (2005). Vibrio vulnificus. In: Encyclopedia of Diagnostic Genomics and Proteomics (edited by J. Fuchs & M. Podda). Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 1312-1315.
Austin, B. (2004). Aquatic Microbiology. Microbiology Today 31, 90.
Robertson, P.A.W., Austin, D.A. and Austin, B. (2005). Prevention of ulcer disease in goldfish (Carassius auratus) by means of vaccination. Journal of Aquatic Animal Health 17, 203-209.
Neamatallah, A., Yan, L., Dewar, S.J. and Austin, B. (2005). An extract from teak (Tectona grandis) bark inhibited Listeria monocytogenes and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Letters in Applied Microbiology 41, 94-96.
Austin, B. (2005). Bacteria pathogens of marine fish. In: Oceans and Health: Pathogens in the Marine Environment (edited by S. Belkin and R.R. Colwell). Kluwer, New York, p. 391-413.
Zhang, Z.-H. and Austin, B. (2005). Haemolysins of Vibrio spp. Journal of Applied Microbiology98, 1011-1019.
Austin, B., Austin, D., Sutherland, R., Thompson, F. and Swings, J. (2005). Pathogenicity of vibrios to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum) and Artemia nauplii. Environmental Microbiology 7, 1488-1495.
Prasad, S., Morris, P.C., Hansen, R., Meaden, P.G. and Austin, B. (2005). A novel bacteriocin-like substance (BLIS) from a pathogenic strain of Vibrio harveyi. Microbiology 151, 3051-3058.
Brunt, J. and Austin, B. (2006). Use of a probiotic to control lactococcosis and streptococcosis in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum). Journal of Fish Diseases (in press).