Rate My Professor Shereen Murugayah

Shereen Murugayah is a Senior Biochemistry Technician in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago, within the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Health Sciences. She arrived in Dunedin in 2010 to study biochemistry, completing her Bachelor of Science with Honours before commencing her PhD in 2014 under the supervision of Dr. Monica L. Gerth. Her doctoral thesis, titled Engineering Quorum-Quenching Enzymes, was submitted in 2018 and approved by examiners following a successful oral defense with minor revisions. The research investigated engineering enzymes to disrupt quorum sensing, the bacterial cell-to-cell communication system that contributes to pathogenesis and biofilm formation on surfaces such as medical implants. By targeting quorum quenching, her work aimed to prevent bacterial infections through strategies like enhancing the activity of acyl-homoserine lactone acylase enzymes, including studies on a single point mutation in glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid acylase to improve its N-acyl-homoserine lactone hydrolase function. She graduated with her PhD in Biochemistry in 2019 during a notable joint ceremony with her mother.