Rate My Professor Brendan Burns

Associate Professor Brendan Burns is a prominent figure in Biology at the University of New South Wales, serving as Honours Coordinator in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. He completed his PhD in the School of Microbiology and Immunology at UNSW from 1995 to 1999, after working as a Research Assistant in the School of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from 1992 to 1994. His career trajectory at UNSW includes roles as Postdoctoral Researcher (1999-2000), ARC Australian Research Fellow (2002-2004 and 2006-2010), Lecturer (2005), Senior Lecturer (2008-2020), and Associate Professor since 2021. Burns has held prestigious international fellowships, such as the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich (2000-2001), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship at the University of Tsukuba (2005). Among his awards are four Young Scientist Awards from the European Helicobacter pylori Study Group (1997-2000), the Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research (2005), the Australian Institute of Political Science Tall Poppy Award (2005), and the NSW Australian Society for Microbiology Members Review Award (2004).

Burns' research in Biology centers on the evolutionary and ecological significance of early Earth microbial ecosystems, particularly microbial mats and stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia, recognized as one of the world's leading studies in these modern analogs. He leads investigations into microbial dark matter, including Asgard archaea, across domains of life, using metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and biogeochemical methods. This contributes to astrobiology, aiding biosignature detection for extraterrestrial life in partnership with the Australian Centre for Astrobiology and NASA. Notable publications include his book Nucleotide synthesis and regulation in a human gut pathogen (2009, Lambert Academic Publishing), and peer-reviewed articles such as "Disentangling the drivers of functional complexity at the metagenomic level in Shark Bay microbial mat microbiomes" (ISME Journal, 2018), "Viral Communities of Shark Bay Modern Stromatolites" (Frontiers in Microbiology, 2018), "Dynamics of archaea at fine spatial scales in Shark Bay mat microbiomes" (Scientific Reports, 2017), and "Unravelling core microbial metabolisms in the hypersaline microbialites of Shark Bay using high-throughput metagenomics" (ISME Journal, 2016). His work supports UN Sustainable Development Goals by assessing climate impacts on these ecosystems, collaborating with the Department of Parks and Wildlife and Malgana Rangers for conservation and engaging Traditional Owners in two-way knowledge exchange.