Professor Richard Ferrero is a microbiologist by training. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and holds the positions of Senior Scientist and Head of the Gastrointestinal Infection and Inflammation Research Group in the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases.

Professor Ferrero completed his PhD research at the University of NSW (Sydney), before moving overseas in 1990 to take up a postdoctoral position at the Institut Pasteur in Paris (France). In 1994, he was appointed to a tenured research position in the Département de Bactériologie et Mycologie at the Institut Pasteur. Professor Ferrero returned to Australia in 2004 to take up a teaching/research academic appointment as Senior Lecturer in the Microbiology Department at Monash University. In 2009, he was recruited to his current position at Hudson Institute of Medical Research.

The major focus of Professor Ferrero’s research is Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. His work in this area has been broad, covering various scientific disciplines: from microbial physiology and molecular pathogenesis, through to vaccine development and mucosal immunology. Among his major research achievements have been the development of a candidate H. pylori vaccine and identification of the mechanism by which the host defence molecule, NOD1, regulates innate immune responses to H. pylori. He has contributed over 80 works in journals and books, as well as being an inventor on patents. His works have been published in leading scientific journals, including Gastroenterology, Immunity, PNAS and Nature Immunol. Professor Ferrero has been awarded prizes from various scientific and medical bodies, and is regularly invited to present his research or chair sessions at international and national conferences. He is a regular abstract reviewer for major international conferences in the fields of gastroenterology and Helicobacter research, and is an international member of the scientific committee of The International Workshop on Pathogenesis and Host Response in Helicobacter Infections.

Selected publications

• Irving AT, Mimuro H, Kufer TA, Lo C, Wheeler R, Turner LJ, Thomas BJ, Malosse C, Gantier MP, Casillas LN, Votta BJ, Bertin J, Boneca IG, Sasakawa C, Philpott DJ, Ferrero RL, Kaparakis-Liaskos M (2014) The immune receptor NOD1 and kinase RIP2 interact with bacterial peptidoglycan on early endosomes to promote autophagy and inflammatory signaling. Cell Host Microbe 15:623-635.

• Allison CC, Ferrand J, McLeod L, Hassan M, Kaparakis-Liaskos M, Grubman A, Bhathal PS, Dev A, Sievert W, Jenkins BJ, Ferrero RL (2013) Nucleotide oligomerization domain 1 enhances IFN-gamma signaling in gastric epithelial cells during Helicobacter pylori infection and exacerbates disease severity. J Immunol 190:3706-3715.

• Grubman A, Phillips A, Thibonnier M, Kaparakis-Liaskos M, Johnson C, Thiberge JM, Radcliff FJ, Ecobichon C, Labigne A, de Reuse H, Mendz GL, Ferrero RL (2010) Vitamin B6 is required for full motility and virulence in Helicobacter pylori. MBio 1:e00112-10.

• Kaparakis M, Turnbull L, Carneiro L, Firth S, Coleman HA, Parkington HC, Le Bourhis L, Karrar A, Viala J, Mak J, Hutton ML, Davies JK, Crack PJ, Hertzog PJ, Philpott DJ, Girardin SE, Whitchurch CB, Ferrero RL (2010) Bacterial membrane vesicles deliver peptidoglycan to NOD1 in epithelial cells. Cell Microbiol 12:372-385.

• Viala J, Chaput C, Boneca IG, Cardona A, Girardin SE, Moran AP, Athman R, Mémet S, Huerre MR, Coyle AJ, DiStefano PS, Sansonetti PJ, Labigne A, Bertin J, Philpott DJ, Ferrero RL (2004) Nod1 responds to peptidoglycan delivered by the Helicobacter pylori cag pathogenicity island. Nat Immunol 5:1166-1174.