Associate Professor Robyn Marsh
Principal Research Fellow, Child and Maternal Health Division
Qualifications:
PhD, Charles Darwin University, 2012; MSc, Northern Territory University, 2001; BAppSc(MLS), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 1994.
Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:
Primary Supervisor
Location:
Darwin - Royal Darwin Hospital
Biography:
Associate Professor Robyn Marsh’s research aims to improve understanding of microbial factors that contribute to the onset, progression and persistence of chronic lung and middle ear infections affecting children. She is specifically interested in understanding how bacteria in complex polymicrobial communities contribute to the onset and progression of chronic mucosal infections.
Her research draws together bacterial, viral and biofilm studies to achieve better understanding of the microbial ecology of chronic respiratory and ear infections. This includes application of OMICs technologies to characterize the structure and function of upper and lower airway bacterial communities. The long-term aim of this research is to find new ways to prevent, diagnose and manage chronic lung and ear infections.
Research Themes
- Child and Maternal Health
- Paediatric Respiratory Microbiome
- PBB Breath: Novel diagnostic tools for management of chronic wet cough in children
- Marsh RL, Binks MJ, Smith-Vaughan HC, Janka M, Clark S, Richmond P, Chang AB, Thornton RB. Prevalence and subtyping of biofilms present in bronchoalveolar lavage from children with protracted bacterial bronchitis or non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet Microbe. 2022; 3:e215-e223.
- Coleman A, Bialasiewicz S, Marsh RL, Grahn Håkansson EG, Cottrell K, Wood A, Jayasundara N, Ware RS, Zaugg J, Sidjabat HE, Adamas J, Ferguson J, Brown M, Roos K, Cervin A. Upper respiratory microbiota in relation to ear and nose health among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. J Ped Infect Dis Soc. 2021; 10:468-476.
- Broderick DTJ, Waite DW, Marsh RL, Camargo Jr CA, Cardenas P, Chang AB, Cookson WOC, Cuthbertson L, Dai W, Everard ML, Gervaix A, Kirk-Harris J, Hasegawa K, Hoffman LR, Hong SJ, Josset L, Kelly MS, Kim BS, Kong Y, Li SC, Mansbach JM, Mejias A, O’Toole GA, Paalanen L, Pérez-Losada M, Pettigrew MM, Pichon M, Ramilo O, Ruokolainen L, Sakwinska O, Seed PC, van der Gast CJ, Wagner BD, Yi H, Zemanick ET, Zheng Y, Pillarisetti N, Taylor MW. Bacterial signatures of paediatric respiratory disease: a 16S rRNA meta-analysis based on individual participant data. Front Microbiol. 2021;12:711134.
- Marsh RL, Aho C, Beissbarth J, Bialasiewicz S, Binks M, Cervin A, Kirkham LS, Lemon KP, Slack MPE, Smith-Vaughan HC. Panel 4: Recent advances in understanding the natural history of the otitis media microbiome and its response to environmental pressures. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;130 Suppl 1:109836.
- Lawrence KA, Harris TM, Salter SJ, Hall RW, Smith-Vaughan HC, Chang AB, Marsh RL. Method for culturing Candidatus Ornithobacterium hominis. J Microbiol Methods. 2019;159:157-60.
- Marsh RL, Smith-Vaughan HC, Chen ACH, Marchant JM, Yerkovich ST, Gibson PG, Pizzutto SJ, Hodge S, Upham JW, Chang AB. Multiple respiratory microbiota profiles are associated with lower airway inflammation in children with protracted bacterial bronchitis. Chest. 2019;155(4):778-86.
- Nelson MT, Pope CE, Marsh RL, Wolter DJ, Weiss EJ, Hager KR, Vo AT, Brittnacher MJ, Radey MC, Hayden HS, Eng A, Miller SI, Borenstein E, Hoffman LR. Human and extracellular DNA depletion for metagenomic analysis of complex clinical infection samples yields optimized viable microbiome profiles. Cell reports. 2019;26(8):2227-40 e5.
- Marsh RL, Nelson MT, Pope CE, Leach AJ, Hoffman LR, Chang AB, Smith-Vaughan HC. How low can we go? The implications of low bacterial load in respiratory microbiota studies. Pneumonia. 2018;10:7.
- Coleman A, Wood A, Bialasiewicz S, Ware RS, Marsh RL, Cervin A. The unsolved problem of otitis media in indigenous populations: a systematic review of upper respiratory and middle ear microbiology in indigenous children with otitis media. Microbiome. 2018;6(1):199.
- Marsh RL, Kaestli M, Chang AB, Binks MJ, Pope CE, Hoffman LR, Smith-Vaughan HC. The microbiota in bronchoalveolar lavage from young children with chronic lung disease includes taxa present in both the oropharynx and nasopharynx. Microbiome. 2016;4(1):37.
Click here to view more Robyn Marsh publications in PubMed and google scholar page.
