Dr Fiona Burnell
BSc(Hons) NSW, PhD NSW
Position: Lecturer in Immunology
Office: T3.06
Tel: +61 7 5430 2826
Fax: +61 7 5459 4880
Email: fburnell@usc.edu.au
Teaching areas
- Immunology
- Clinical Microbiology
Research areas
- Seroprevalence studies in the area of emerging infectious diseases.
- Development and validation of immunoassays for various biomarkers in humans and other animals.
- Assessment of biomarkers of stress and health in humans (especially mucosal immunity), including analysis of levels of lysozyme (non-specific immunity), secretory IgA (specific immunity) and cortisol (stress hormone) in saliva.
Profile
Dr Fiona Burnell has broad experience in immunology and infectious disease pathogenesis. After completing a Bachelor of Science with Honours at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Fiona worked as a research assistant, and then commenced her PhD in Immunotherapy, which proved academically and commercially successful: her results contributing to several patents for Helicobacter vaccines.
In 1998, Fiona took up a position as Associate Lecturer in Immunology at USC, and was subsequently promoted to Lecturer. Her research has moved into new areas, including non-invasive approaches to assessing health and stress in human subjects, as well as working with various groups to develop and validate immunoassays for important biomarkers. She is currently a member of the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), assisting with the development of assays for biomarkers in tuna.
Dr Burnell has recently begun work in the field of emerging infectious diseases, carrying out seroprevalence studies to assess exposure to potential pathogens. She is currently project leader for a team of researchers at USC, in collaboration with the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) at the University of Iowa, assessing risk factors in human exposure to equine influenza.
Dr Burnell has also supervised a number of projects in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, which investigates interactions between brain, behaviour and immunity. The effects of psychological stress (eg. occupational stress) and other environmental parameters on mucosal immunity are also of particular interest.
Dr Burnell has a strong interest in quality teaching, with many years of experience teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. She coordinates courses for Biomedical Science students (Immunology), Nursing students (Drug Therapy and Disease Transmission) and Midwifery students (Science for Midwifery). She is also a member of a team of academics who run a Collegial Research Learning Set for post-graduate research students under their supervision. This innovative approach is currently the subject of a Teaching and Learning Research Grant project.
Publications
Electronic copies of various academic papers from Dr Fiona Burnell are available on the USC Coast Research Database website.
There is also some academic papers listed under Dr Fiona Buck available on the USC Coast Research Database website.
Research grants
- Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) Maturation and Sexing; develop and apply new technologies, A$313,000 (co-investigator; CRC, 2007).
- A teaching strategy to develop deep learning about the research process, A$12,000 (co-investigator; USC Teaching Research and Development Grant Scheme, 2007).
- Development of a biomarker for assessment of reproductive status and exposure to endocrine disruptors in fish, A$5,000 – 18 months (co-investigator; USC Internal Research Development Grants, 2005).
- Mucosal Immunity and Stress in University Staff: are salivary biomarkers reliable indicators?, A$4,200 - 12 months (Principal investigator; USC Internal Research Development Grants, 2003).
- Development of Rapid ELISA Tests for Salivary Immunoglobulin A and Lysozyme as Markers of Mucosal Immune Changes after Exercise. A$4,765 (Principal investigator; USC Internal Research Development Grants, 2000).
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