Rate My Professor jai tree

Associate Professor Jai Tree serves in the Faculty of Science at the University of New South Wales, within the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Queensland in 2007 and his BSc (Applied) in Biotechnology with First Class Honours from the same institution in 2001. Tree's career trajectory includes postdoctoral research positions at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine and The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK from 2007 to 2011, followed by the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology and The Roslin Institute from 2011 to 2014. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Peter Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne from 2014 to 2015. At UNSW, he progressed from Senior Lecturer in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences from 2015 to 2021 to his current role as Associate Professor since 2022.

Jai Tree's research centers on the mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens cause disease, with a strong emphasis on non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that regulate virulence gene expression. His laboratory employs enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC) as a primary model to identify ncRNAs controlling Shiga toxin production from lambdoid bacteriophages, utilizing techniques such as UV-crosslinking immunoprecipitation (CLASH), high-throughput sequencing, RNA structure probing, and bioinformatics. Additionally, Tree investigates ncRNA-mediated control of cell wall and membrane functions contributing to intrinsic antibiotic resistance in pathogens like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which possess urgent or serious resistance threats. Key publications encompass 'Complete bypass of restriction systems for major Staphylococcus aureus lineages' (mBio, 2015), 'Identification of bacteriophage-encoded anti-sRNAs in pathogenic Escherichia coli' (Molecular Cell, 2014), 'Small RNA interactome of pathogenic E. coli revealed through crosslinking of RNase E' (EMBO Journal, 2017), 'RNase III-CLASH of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus reveals a regulatory mRNA 3’UTR required for intermediate vancomycin resistance' (Nature Communications, 2022), 'RNase III CLASH in MRSA uncovers sRNA regulatory networks coupling metabolism to toxin expression' (Nature Communications, 2022), and 'Early termination of the Shiga toxin transcript generates a regulatory small RNA' (PNAS, 2020). These studies have elucidated critical RNA regulatory networks, advancing knowledge of bacterial pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets.