Find Greg Cook on
D.Phil (University of Waikato), M.Sc. (Hons) (University of Waikato), B.Sc. (Biological Sciences) (University of Waikato)
Background
Professor Greg Cook MSc(Hons), DPhil, FRSNZ is the Head of School, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Greg is a Microbiologist with a strong research interest in bacterial physiology and energetics, antimicrobial resistance and drug discovery and development.
Prior to Greg’s appointment as Head of School in 2024, Greg was a Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor and Head of the Microbiology and Immunology Department, School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Greg was also Director of the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, a Centre of Research Excellence for Biomedical research in New Zealand, and Co-Director of the China-New Zealand Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biomedicine and Health that was established by Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedical and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Maurice Wilkins Centre, New Zealand.
Research projects in the Greg’s laboratory are multidisciplinary, spanning human biomedical and agritech/biotech, and covers basic to translational research. Greg interacts with multiple end users in academia, government, industry and pharma. Research from the Cook laboratory is aimed at providing fundamental knowledge on the metabolism and energetics of bacterial pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A major goal of his research is to translate these findings into new drug target development to combat antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) and tolerance, and provide molecular and mechanistic insight into the mode of action of antimicrobials (old and new). A second major theme of the Cook laboratory is aimed at preserving human, animal and plant health in the face of AMR through the discovery and implementation of compounds that are used exclusively in animals and plants to combat environmental pathogens like mastitis-causing bacteria and fungal pathogens of plants. Part of this theme includes discovering new inhibitors for management of greenhouse gas emissions in ruminant animals and soils.
Greg is a Fellow of the Royal Society New Zealand (FRSNZ) Te Apārangi (2013), and held positions as a James Cook Fellow, (2012-2014), 8th Sir William Dunn and Sidney Sussex College Fellow (Cambridge U.K., 2009) and invited visiting Professor positions at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland (2001 and 2005). Greg has received the Distinguished Orator Award, New Zealand Microbiological Society (2012), University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal, University of Otago's highest distinction (2014), University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research (2004) Commercialisation researcher award (2023), and his group, the University of Otago Research Group Award (2017).
Industry Research Activities
SHIONOGI & CO., LTD 3-1-8, Doshomachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 541-0045 Japan
Tibotec BVBA, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Belgium
Livestock Improvement Corporation (https://www.lic.co.nz)
Bayer Animal Health, Bayer New Zealand Limited, Animal Health Drug Discovery & External Innovation, Dairy Innovation & Science Intelligence
Deosan (http://www.deosan.co.nz/)
Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-op Ltd
AbacusBio (https://abacusbio.com)
Zestt (https://www.zesttwellness.com)
Additional information
- Adolph, C., McNeil, M. & Cook, G. (2022). Impaired Succinate Oxidation Prevents Growth and Influences Drug Susceptibility in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. mBio, 13(4). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246599
- Waller, N., Cheung, C., Cook, G. & McNeil, M. (2023). The evolution of antibiotic resistance is associated with collateral drug phenotypes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nature Communications, 14. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246608
- Hards, K., Cheung, C., Waller, N., Adolph, C., Keighley, L., Tee, Z., Harold, L., Menorca, A., Bujaroski, R., Buckley, B., Tyndall, J., McNeil, M., Rhee, K., Opel-Reading, H., Krause, K., Preiss, L., Langer, J., Meier, T., Hasenoehrl, E., Berney, M., Kelso, M. & Cook, G. (2022). An amiloride derivative is active against the F1Fo-ATP synthase and cytochrome bd oxidase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Communications Biology, 5. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246613
- Grinter, R., Kropp, A., Venugopal, H., Senger, M., Badley, J., Cabotaje, P., Jia, R., Duan, Z., Huang, P., Stripp, S., Barlow, C., Belousoff, M., Shafaat, H., Cook, G., Schittenhelm, R., Vincent, K., Khalid, S., Berggren, G. & Greening, C. (2023). Structural basis for bacterial energy extraction from atmospheric hydrogen. Nature, 615(7952), 541–547. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246612
- McNeil, M., Keighley, L., Cook, J., Cheung, C. & Cook, G. (2021). CRISPR interference identifies vulnerable cellular pathways with bactericidal phenotypes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Molecular Microbiology, 116(4), 1033–1043. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246623
- Steyn, A., Grüber, G., Schnappinger, D., Berney, M., Cook, G., Moraski, G., Pethe, K., Lee, B., Hards, K., Engelhart, C., Hasenoehrl, E., Kalia, N., Mackenzie, J., Sviriaeva, E., Chong, S., Manimekalai, M., Koh, V., Chan, J., Xu, J., Alonso, S. & Miller, M. (2021). Dual inhibition of the terminal oxidases eradicates antibiotic-tolerant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 13(1). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246602
- Zeng, S., Zhang, J., Sun, M., Zhang, X., Cook, G. & Zhang, T. (2021). Nitric oxide-dependent electron transport chain inhibition by the cytochrome bc1inhibitor and pretomanid combination kills mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 65(9). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246614
- Grinter, R., Ney, B., Brammananth, R., Barlow, C., Cordero, P., Gillett, D., Izoré, T., Cryle, M., Harold, L., Cook, G., Taiaroa, G., Williamson, D., Warden, A., Oakeshott, J., Taylor, M., Crellin, P., Jackson, C., Schittenhelm, R., Coppel, R. & Greening, C. (2020). Cellular and structural basis of synthesis of the unique intermediate dehydro-F420-0 in mycobacteria. mSystems, 5(3). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246635
- Hards, K., McMillan, D., Schurig-Briccio, L., Gennis, R., Lill, H., Bald, D. & Cook, G. (2018). Ionophoric effects of the antitubercular drug bedaquiline. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(28), 7326–7331. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246618
- Mortuza, R., Aung, H., Taiaroa, G., Opel-Reading, H., Kleffmann, T., Cook, G. & Krause, K. (2018). Overexpression of a newly identified d-amino acid transaminase in Mycobacterium smegmatis complements glutamate racemase deletion. Molecular Microbiology, 107(2), 198–213. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/246609