Rate My Professor Anna Roujeinikova

Associate Professor Anna Roujeinikova heads the Structural Biology of Bacterial Virulence Factors research group at Monash University’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute in the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. She earned a BSc in Natural Sciences (cum laude) and an MSc in Applied Physics and Mathematics (with distinction) from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, followed by a PhD in Structural Biology from the University of Sheffield, UK. Following her doctorate, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute for Cancer Studies in Sheffield, the University of Leicester, and the University of Manchester, all in the UK. In 2006, Roujeinikova received a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship to investigate bacterial molecular machines using structural biology techniques. In 2009, she relocated to Australia and took up her position as Associate Professor at Monash University, where she established a new structural biology group. She held an Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Fellowship from 2010 to 2014.

Roujeinikova’s research centers on bacteria of medical importance, including the carcinogenic bacterium Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni. Her group elucidates the structure, function, and regulation of the bacterial flagellar motor and chemotaxis pathways; investigates essential bacterial proteins and their inhibition by commercial drugs such as triclosan; and examines interactions between secreted bacterial virulence factors and host cells. She has determined approximately 90 crystal structures of essential bacterial proteins from human pathogens. Notable publications include “Unravelling the molecular mechanism of action of a common antiseptic triclosan” (Nature, 1999); “Bacterial flagella hijack type IV pili proteins to control motility” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024); “Biochemical characterization of paralyzed flagellum proteins A (PflA) and B (PflB) from Helicobacter pylori flagellar motor” (Bioscience Reports, 2024); “Campylobacter jejuni virulence factors: update on emerging issues and trends” (Journal of Biomedical Science, 2024); and “Cysteine and resistance to oxidative stress: implications for virulence and antibiotic resistance” (Trends in Microbiology, 2024).