Our Team

Robert Barlow

Group Leader, Microbial Food Systems

Dr Robert Barlow has experience conducting research projects for Meat and Livestock Australia and Australian Meat Processor Corporation investigating significant food safety issues (e.g pathogenic E. coli and antimicrobial resistance) that the Australian red meat industry address in order to deliver safe and trusted products into global markets.

Food microbiology team leader

Rozita Spirovska Vaskoska has fifteen years of experience in the food science area, including research and academic roles at world-renowned universities, as well as technologist, consultant, and microbiologist roles in the food industry in three countries (Australia, The Netherlands, and Macedonia). Rozita is skilled in food science, meat science, food chemistry, food safety, food microbiology, predictive microbiology, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, European Union food law, and Australia and New Zealand Food Standards Code. She has a PhD in food (meat) science from the University of Melbourne, a Master of Science (MSc) degree in food safety from Wageningen University and, a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in food technology from University Sv. Kliment Ohridski.

Cathy has 20 years' experience working as a food microbiologist with specific expertise in dairy microbiology, food spoilage, food safety and human health microorganisms, including Clostridium, Cronobacter, enterococci, Listeria, Salmonella and thermophilic spore forming bacteria. Cathy has capability in traditional and molecular microbiology and has been involved in the use of high pressure processing and pulsed electric field for the inactivation of problematic microorganisms, and the fermentation of vegetables. Cathy graduated with a PhD in dairy microbiology from the University of Melbourne in July 2017.

Glen Mellor is a Research Microbiologist in the Food Safety and Stability Group at CSIRO. He has undertaken a variety of research projects for the Australian red meat industry that focus on microbial safety and quality aspects of meat production. Glen has coordinated large scale national surveys of pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria in Australian cattle and sheep populations, with a major focus on STEC of regulatory importance to the Australian beef industry.

Kate has been a Research Technician in the Food Safety and Stability Group within CSIRO Agriculture and Food since 2011. Kate predominately works on research projects with a focus on Shiga Toxigenic E. coli (STEC), in particular non-O157 within the Australian red meat production system.

Dr Lesley Duffy undertakes research on foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157, Listeria, Salmonella and Campylobacter.

Marie's area of research is microbiology, with a particular focus on bacterial species of importance to food safety and/or stability. This includes undertaking challenge trials for stability testing and applying novel processing approaches such as High Pressure for extended shelf life of foods with retention of favourable sensory characteristics, while maintaining food safety. Marie has extensive experience in media formulation for bacteriology and manages the day to day running of the Microbiology lab at Werribee.

Dr Narelle Fegan is a Principal Research Microbiologist in the Food Microbiology team in CSIRO Agriculture and Food. Narelle's research has focused on food borne bacterial pathogens, particularly Shiga toxigenic E. coli (STEC) and Salmonella, specifically in relation to animal production systems

Dr Hlaing is a Research Scientist in Applied Microbiology with a focus on stabilising probiotic bacteria in composite carrier matrices for the development of functional food products. Myintzu also has expertise in applying genomic tools, undertaking transcriptomic gene expression analyses, and in the application vibrational bio-spectroscopic and chemometric analyses for monitoring microbial response to stress during food processing. Myintzu is involved in strategic and commercial projects focused on the microencapsulation of probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids, food fermentation and value addition to food waste. She is also leading research in the development of biosensors.

Sean Moore is a molecular microbiologist in the Food Safety and Stability Group within the Agriculture and Food Business Unit of CSIRO. Sean has experience working with food spoilage microorganisms and common foodborne pathogens with the objective improving food safety for Australian and global markets.

Sieh Ng is a food safety microbiologist with a track record of assessing food safety risks to consumers and improving food product safety, working with national regulators as well as industry to investigate product microbial contamination issues and solve food safety and quality problems. She has extensive expertise in helping industry adopt innovative processing technologies for the production of fresher and healthier foods.