Rate My Professor Melissa Corbett

Dr. Melissa Corbett is a Senior Lecturer at the Curtin Medical School within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. She serves as Deputy Director of Graduate Research for the Curtin Medical School. Corbett completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University. As a PhD student in 2008, she won the Western Australia competition of the AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellence Awards for her work on a strain of iron-oxidizing bacterium relevant to bioleaching processes. Previously associated with the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and CHIRI Biosciences, her career has progressed from PhD research to lecturing in microbiology and now to her current senior lecturing role.

Corbett's academic interests center on acidophile microbiology and biohydrometallurgy, specifically the use of microorganisms to solubilise mineral-bearing ores, including rare earth elements from monazite and xenotime. Her research investigates microbial communities, biofilm formation, osmotic responses in halophilic acidophiles like Acidihalobacter aeolianus, and the impact of carbon sources on bioleaching efficiency. She supervises Honours and PhD students and teaches microbiology and infectious diseases in medical science units such as MEDI2011 Foundations of Medical Science. Key publications include 'Draft Genome Sequence of the Iron-Oxidizing Acidophile Alicyclobacillus ferrooxydans TC-34' (Genome Announcements, 2014), 'Examining the Osmotic Response of Acidihalobacter aeolianus after Exposure to Salt Stress' (Microorganisms, 2021), 'Klebsiella aerogenes Adhesion Behaviour during Biofilm Formation on Rare Earth Phosphate Minerals' (Microorganisms, 2023), 'Biofilm Formation on the Surface of Monazite and Xenotime during Rare Earth Bioleaching' (Scientific Reports, 2023), 'Analysis of Element Yield, Bacterial Community Structure, and the Impact of Carbon Sources for Bioleaching Rare Earth Elements from High-Grade Monazite' (Hydrometallurgy, 2024), and she guest-edited the special issue 'Microorganisms in Rare Earth Elements Bioleaching' (Minerals). With over 300 citations on ResearchGate, her contributions advance microbial technologies for sustainable mineral recovery. In 2021, she earned an Honourable Mention in the Curtin Student Guild Excellence in Teaching Awards.