Rate My Professor Emily Hoedt

Dr. Emily Hoedt is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Microbiology Biotechnology and a Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours Class I), both from the University of Queensland, awarded in 2017. Her PhD research focused on methane-producing microbes in animal and human gastrointestinal environments, funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Meat and Livestock Australia scholarship. Following her doctorate, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland from May 2017 to June 2018. She then held a Postdoctoral Researcher position at University College Cork, Ireland, from June 2018 to September 2020, leading an academic-industry collaboration with Danone Nutricia on bifidobacterial strains for probiotics, assessing their benefits in mouse models of gastrointestinal distress. In her current role, she oversees all microbiome research in the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Digestive Health.

Dr. Hoedt specializes in microbiology and microbiome/metagenome analysis, investigating gut microbial communities' roles in digestive health, including Crohn’s disease, functional dyspepsia, the gut-brain axis for soldier cognition optimization, probiotic development, and preventing anastomotic leaks in colorectal surgery. She has received major funding as Lead Chief Investigator for a $500,000 NSW Health Early-Mid Career Researcher Microbiomics Grant in 2023 and as co-Chief Investigator on a $3.5 million Australian Department of Defence project. Other honors include Best Poster Award from the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology (2024), Best Oral Presentation (ECR winner, University of Newcastle, 2022), People's Choice Award (2022), CSIRO Directors Award (2016), and Dean’s Commendation (2011). Key publications encompass “Differences down-under: Alcohol-fueled methanogenesis by archaea present in Australian macropodids” (2016), “Culture- and metagenomics-enabled analyses of the Methanosphaera genus reveals their monophyletic origin and differentiation according to genome size” (2018), “Clinical medicine journals lag behind science journals with regards to 'microbiota sequence' data availability” (2021), “Broad Purpose Vector for Site-Directed Insertional Mutagenesis in Bifidobacterium breve” (2021), “A synbiotic mixture of selected oligosaccharides and bifidobacteria assists murine gut microbiota restoration following antibiotic challenge” (2023), and “Diet-microbiota associations in gastrointestinal research: a systematic review” (2024). She delivers public lectures at community seminars on Parkinson’s, colorectal cancer, and healthy ageing, and GP education events.