Rate My Professor Alma Fulurija

Dr. Alma Fulurija holds the position of Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the Marshall Centre, University of Western Australia, part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. She was awarded her PhD in Pathology and Immunology from the University of Western Australia in 2002. Subsequently, she undertook post-doctoral training at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Immunology and Vaccinology in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by five years as a Senior Scientist at Cytos Biotechnology Ltd, which was voted Switzerland's most successful biotech company in 2006/07. In 2007, Fulurija returned to Australia to assume the role of Senior Immunologist at Ondek Pty Ltd, a biotech start-up founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall and hosted by UWA, while taking up an adjunct academic position at the university in the School of Biology, Biochemistry and Chemical Sciences, Discipline of Microbiology and Immunology. She has since progressed to Adjunct Senior Lecturer and now Adjunct Associate Professor, alongside serving as Head of Immunology at Ondek, overseeing a team including research assistants and postdoctoral scientists.

Fulurija's research focuses on host-pathogen interactions, host defence mechanisms, and immunotherapy, particularly investigating Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis, the role of early innate immune responses in non-protective immunity, molecular mechanisms of bacterial survival and persistence, and development of innovative H. pylori-based vaccine delivery technologies. Her expertise encompasses immunology, microbiology, in vivo animal models, preclinical vaccine studies, and human clinical trials, leading to 39 research outputs, patents, and international collaborations. Key publications include 'Establishing the lowest penicillin concentration to prevent pharyngitis due to Streptococcus pyogenes using a human challenge model (CHIPS)' (The Lancet Microbe, 2025), 'Serological Responses to Target Streptococcus pyogenes Vaccine Antigens in Patients With Proven Invasive β-Hemolytic Streptococcal Infections' (Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2025), 'An infant mouse model of influenza-driven nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae colonization and acute otitis media' (Infection and Immunity, 2024), 'Helicobacter pylori gene silencing in vivo demonstrates xerC-dependent chromosomal transformation and loss of species-selective traits' (PLoS Pathogens, 2017), and 'Neutrophil depletion increases susceptibility to systemic Candida albicans infection' (Microbiology, 1996). She co-supervises PhD students, lectures undergraduate immunology courses since 2007, and delivers master's-level teaching at the Marshall Centre since 2008. Active projects include the Immunity to Streptococcus pyogenes Network (iSpy-Net) and clinical development of nasal therapies to prevent otitis media and respiratory infections. Her translational work bridges academic and industry research, advancing vaccine strategies against infectious diseases.