Associate Professor Dr. rer. nat. Wieland Meyer

Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory at the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

• Research Interests
• Publications
• Contact Details & Lab Members

A/Prof. Wieland Meyer is head of the Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory at the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in the Department of Medicine, Western Clinical School, of the University of Sydney at the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, NSW.

He graduated in Genetics with a Diploma in Biology (MSc, suma cum laude), from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany in 1986 and went on to complete his PhD (suma cum laude), at the same University in 1992. He undertook his postdoctorial studies at the Department of Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA (1992-1995), before he established the Molecular Mycology Laboratory at Westmead Hospital in 1995 and the Australian National Molecular Mycology Reference Laboratory. He was the vice-president (1998-2002) and president (2002-2005) of the Australasian Mycological Society. He is the Convenor of the Mycology Special Interest Group of the Australian Society for Microbiology since 2002 and the vice-president of the International Mycological Association (IMA) since 2006.

He has written extensively (more than 65 papers and 3 books) on molecular epidemiology and phylogeny of pathogenic fungi, especially yeasts of the genera Candida and Cryptococcus.

Please visit our laboratory web site www.mmrl.med.usyd.edu.au.

Research Interests

A/Prof. Meyer has a long standing interest in understanding epidemiology, phylogeny and speciation in pathogenic fungi.

He developed PCR-fingerprinting as a typing technique for fungal isolates in 1990 and published a book on DNA fingerprinting in plants and fungi in 1995 (CRC Press).

His research is focussing on the phylogenetic analysis of pathogenic fungi mainly from the genera Candida and Cryptococcus, the development of fast, simple and reliable molecular identification techniques for human fungal pathogens, and the understanding of fungal virulence determinants (such as the phospholipase PLB1) on a molecular level.

He works with a small team of PhD and honours students and research stuff. He has collaborations with laboratories worldwide. His work is supported by national peer-reviewed and pharmaceutical grants.

Publications

- 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 -

2007

• Escondón P, Ngamskulrungroj P, Meyer W, Castañeda E (2007): In vitro mating of Colombian isolates of the Cryptococcus neoformans speciies complex. Biomedica 27 (2): 308-314

• Meyer W (2007): The emergence of Cryptococcus gattii VGII as a super killer? Microbiology Australia 28 (2): 70-71
  

2006

• Ribeiro AM, Rosa e Silva, LK, Schrank IS, Schrank A, Meyer W, Henning Vainstein M (2006): "Isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans serotype D from Eucalypts in South Brazil" Medical Mycology, Medical Mycology, 44:707-713.
• Kluger, E, Karaoglu, H, Krockenberger, M, Della Torre, P, Meyer, W, Malik, R. Recrudescent cryptococcosis, caused by Cryptococcus gattii (molecular type VGII), over a 13-year period in a Birman cat. Medical mycology : official publication of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. 2006; 44:561-6 [Abstract]
• Escandon, P, Sanchez, A, Martinez, M, Meyer, W, Castaneda, E. Molecular epidemiology of clinical and environmental isolates of the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex reveals a high genetic diversity and the presence of the molecular type VGII mating type a in Colombia. Fems Yeast Research. 2006; 6:625-635 [Abstract]

2005

• Campbell, L, Currie, B, Krockenberger, M, Malik, R, Meyer, W, Heitman, J, Carter, D. Clonality and recombination in genetically differentiated subgroups of Cryptococcus gattii. Eukaryotic cell. 2005; 4:1403-9 [Abstract]
• Karaoglu, H, Lee, C, Meyer, W. Survey of simple sequence repeats in completed fungal genomes. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 2005; 22:639-649 [Abstract]

2004

• Kidd, S, Hagen, F, Tscharke, R, Huynh, M, Bartlett, K, Fyfe, M, Macdougall, L, Boekhout, T, Kwon-Chung, K, Meyer, W. A rare genotype of Cryptococcus gattii caused the cryptococcosis outbreak on Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2004; 101:17258-63 [Abstract]
• Igreja, R, Lazéra, M, Wanke, B, Galhardo, M, Kidd, S, Meyer, W. Molecular epidemiology of Cryptococcus neoformans isolates from AIDS patients of the Brazilian city, Rio de Janeiro. Medical mycology : official publication of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. 2004; 42:229-38 [Abstract]
• Meyer, W, Meyer, W. Molecular tools for fungal identification form clinical specimens. Pfizer Spectrum. 2004; 4:2-3
• Katsu, M, Kidd, S, Ando, A, Moretti-Branchini, M, Mikami, Y, Nishimura, K, Meyer, W. The internal transcribed spacers and 5.8S rRNA gene show extensive diversity among isolates of the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex. FEMS yeast research. 2004; 4:377-88 [Abstract]
• Meyer, W, Mahoney, D, Gams, W, Meyer, W, Starink, M. Umbelopsis dimorpha n.sp., a link between U. vinacea and U. versiformis. Mycological Research. 2004; 108:107-111.
• Meyer W (2004): "Molecular techniques for the identification of pathogenic fungi" Proceedings of the 2003 Mycology Master Class Hamilton Island - Pfizer, ASM, Melbourne, Australia: 34-37

2003

• Lachance MA, Daniel HM, Meyer W, Prasad GS, Gautam SP & Boundy-Mills K (2003): The D1/D2 domain of the large subunit rDNA of the yeast species Clavspora lusitaniae is unusually polymorphic. FEMS Yeast Research 4 (3): 253-258
• Kiesling Casali, A, Goulart, L, Kmetzsch Rosa e Silva, L, Medeiros Ribeiro, A, Almeida Amaral, A, Hartz Alves, S, Schrank, A, Meyer, W, Henning Vainstein, M. Molecular typing of clinical and environmental cryptococcus neoformans isolates in the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul. Fems Yeast Research. 2003; 3:405-415
• Daniel, H, Meyer, W. Evaluation of ribosomal RNA and actin gene sequences for the identification of ascomycetous yeasts. International Journal Of Food Microbiology. 2003; 86:61-78
• Meyer, W, Gams, W. Delimitation of umbelopsis (mucorales, umbelopsidaceae fam. nov.) based on ITS sequence and RFLP data. Mycological Research. 2003; 107(3):339-350
• Meyer, W, Casteneda, A, Jackson, S, Huynh, M, Casteneda, E. Molecular typing of IberoAmerican Cryptococcus neoformans isolates. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2003; Vol 9, No. 2:189-195
• Kidd, S, Sorrell, T, Meyer, W. Isolation of two molecualr types of Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii from insect frass. Medical Mycology. 2003; 41:171-176
• Latouche, G, Huynh, M, Sorrell, T, Meyer, W. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the phospholipase B (PLB1) gene for subtyping of cryptococcus neoformans isolates. Applied And Environmental Microbiology. 2003; Vol 69, No. 4:2080-2086

2002

• Daniel H-M. & Meyer W (2002): Molecular phylogeny applied to Candida species and related ascomycetous yeasts (Summary Daniel H-M PhD thesis) Yeast- A Newsletter for persons Interested in Yeast LI(II): 37
• Meyer W (2002): Molecular Identification of Pathogenic Fungi. Microbiology Australia 23(3): 40-41
• Carter D and Meyer W (2002): Medical Mycology. Microbiology Australia 23(3): 3
• Chen, S, Halliday, C, Meyer, W. A review of nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests for systemic mycoses with an emphasis on polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Medical Mycology. 2002; 40:333-357
• Malik, R, Alderton, B, Finlaison, D, Krockenberger, M, Karaoglu, H, Meyer, W, Martin, P, France, M, McGill, J, Lester, S, O'Brien, C, Love, D. Cryptococcosis in ferrets: a diverse spectrum of clinical disease. Australian Veterinary Journal. 2002; 80:749-755
• Latouche, G, Sorrell, T, Meyer, W. Isolation and characterisation of the phospholipase B gene of Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii. Fems Yeast Research. 2002; 2:551-561

2001

• Chen, S, Halliday, C, Meyer, W. A review of nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests for systemic mycoses with an emphasis on polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Medical Mycology. 2001; 40:333-357
• Kidd SE, Hitchcock C, Marszewska K, Balakrishnan P, Hunt C, Rajendran P, Usha AR, Thyagarajan SP, Sorrell TC & Meyer W (2001): Molecular epidemiology of clinical and environmental isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans from Tamil Nadu, India, The Australian Mycologist 2001, 20(3) 105-114
• Meyer W, Maszewska K & Sorrell TC (2001): PCR-fingerprinting a convenient molecular tool to distinguish between Candida dubliniensis and Candida albicans. Medical Mycology 39: 185-193
• Daniel HM, Sorrell TC & Meyer W (2001): Partial Sequence Analysis of the Actin Gene and its Potential to study the Phylogeny of Candida Species and their Teleomorphs. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51: 1593-1606
  

2000

• Boekhout T, Theelen B, Diaz M, Fell JW, Hop WCJ, Abeln EA, Dromer F & Meyer W (2000): Hybrid genotypes in the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. Microbiology. 147:891-907
• Ellis, D, Marriott, D, Hajjeh, R, Warncock, D, Meyer, W, Barton, R. Epidemiology: surveillance of fungal infections. Medical Mycology. 2000; 38:173-182

Contact Details

Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory
CIDM, ICPMR, Level 3, Room 3114A
Westmead Hospital
Darcy Road Westmead, NSW, 2145

T +61 2 98456895

F +61 2 98915317

E w.meyer@usyd.edu.au

Lab Members

Postdoc

Kim Ming (Clement) Tsui PhD
T +61 2 984556332 or 567792

Research Assistants

Krystyna Maszewska
T +61 2 98457792 or 55258

Nathalie van de Wiele

T +61 2 98456332

PhD students

Azian Harun MD

T +61 2 98457792 or 56346

Sirada Kaocharoen

T +61 2 98457792 or 56332

Popchai Ngamskulrungroj MD

T +61 2 98457792 or 56346

Luciana Trilles

T +61 2 98457792 or 56332

Wallace R.A. Santos

T +61 2 98457792 or 56332

Mojgan Amin-Nejad
T +61 2 98457792 or 56332