Rate My Professor Jennifer (Jen) Robson

Dr Jennifer (Jen) Robson serves as a Teaching Fellow for 300-level courses and Pacific Islands Student Support in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago. She holds a BSc (Hons) from the University of Canterbury and a PhD from the University of Otago. Robson also acts as a Pacific Island Liaison for the Division of Sciences. Her teaching portfolio includes MICR 335 Molecular Microbiology and MICR 336 Microbial Ecology. She contributes to student initiatives, such as the Repeating Student Initiative in collaboration with Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology departments.

Robson has received the Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) Top Tutor award in the Sciences division for Microbiology and Immunology in 2018 and the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Distinguished Teaching Fellow for Sciences award. Her research output encompasses molecular microbiology, with key publications including: "The vapBC Operon from Mycobacterium smegmatis Is An Autoregulated Toxin–Antitoxin Module That Controls Growth via Inhibition of Translation" (2009, Journal of Bacteriology); "The PIN-domain ribonucleases and the prokaryotic VapBC toxin-antitoxin array" (2011, Trends in Biochemical Sciences); "A VapBC Toxin-Antitoxin Module Is a Posttranscriptional Regulator of Metabolic Flux in Mycobacteria" (2012, Journal of Bacteriology); "The Growth and Survival of Mycobacterium smegmatis Is Enhanced by Co-Metabolism of Atmospheric H2" (2014, PLoS ONE); "Novel regulatory roles of cAMP receptor proteins in fast-growing environmental mycobacteria" (2015, Microbiology); "Bactericidal mode of action of bedaquiline" (2015, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy); and "Structure and Function of AmtR in Mycobacterium smegmatis: Implications for Post-Transcriptional Regulation of Urea Metabolism through a Small Antisense RNA" (2016, Journal of Biological Chemistry). These publications have collectively received over 700 citations. Robson has served as an advisor for doctoral theses, including Htin Lin Aung's PhD on CRP as a global regulator of carbon catabolism (2013). She has been involved in organising committees for Genetics Otago events in multiple years, including 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.