Rate My Professor Gregory Cook

Professor Gregory Cook is the Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Otago. He holds an MSc and PhD from the University of Waikato and is a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (FRSNZ). Appointed Professor in 2009, he previously served as Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from 2019 to 2024, Director of the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery since 2020, and Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Bioenergetics from 2021 to 2024. His career includes visiting professorships at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Cook has received the University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal in 2014, the university's highest research distinction; the University of Otago Research Group Award in 2017 for the Otago Bacterial Energetics and Antimicrobial Resistance Group; the James Cook Fellowship from 2012 to 2014; the Distinguished Orator Award from the New Zealand Microbiological Society in 2012; and the University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research in 2004.

Cook's research in microbial physiology and biochemistry centers on bacterial metabolism and energetics as targets for drug development against pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. His laboratory conducts multidisciplinary work spanning human biomedical research, agritech, and biotech, translating findings into new antimicrobials to combat resistance and persistence. Additional efforts address animal and plant health, including inhibitors for mastitis-causing bacteria, fungal plant pathogens, and greenhouse gas emissions in ruminants. Key publications include 'Energetics of bacterial growth: balance of anabolic and catabolic reactions' (1995), 'Genomic and metagenomic surveys of hydrogenase distribution indicate H2 is a widely utilised energy source for microbial growth and survival' (2016), 'Physiology of mycobacteria' (2009), and recent articles such as 'ClpC1-targeting peptide natural products differentially dysregulate the proteome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis' (2026) and 'Remission spectroscopy resolves the mechanism of action of bedaquiline within living mycobacteria' (2025). He has supervised over 100 postgraduate students, including 45 PhDs as primary supervisor, and 30 postdoctoral fellows, while securing funding from government, industry, and pharmaceutical sources for investigator-driven programs.