Rate My Professor Shereen Murugayah

Shereen Murugayah is a Senior Biochemistry Technician in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago, within the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Health Sciences. She arrived in Dunedin in 2010 to study biochemistry, completing her Bachelor of Science with Honours before commencing her PhD in 2014 under the supervision of Dr. Monica L. Gerth. Her doctoral thesis, titled Engineering Quorum-Quenching Enzymes, was submitted in 2018 and approved by examiners following a successful oral defense with minor revisions. The research investigated engineering enzymes to disrupt quorum sensing, the bacterial cell-to-cell communication system that contributes to pathogenesis and biofilm formation on surfaces such as medical implants. By targeting quorum quenching, her work aimed to prevent bacterial infections through strategies like enhancing the activity of acyl-homoserine lactone acylase enzymes, including studies on a single point mutation in glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid acylase to improve its N-acyl-homoserine lactone hydrolase function. She graduated with her PhD in Biochemistry in 2019 during a notable joint ceremony with her mother.

Murugayah presented her PhD research as a poster at the Enzyme Engineering XXIV conference in 2017. In 2019, she co-authored the review paper Engineering quorum quenching enzymes: progress and perspectives in Biochemical Society Transactions, outlining advancements in disrupting bacterial quorum sensing as an antimicrobial strategy and garnering over 80 citations. Following her PhD, she served as an Assistant Research Fellow with Dr. Lynette Brownfield at the University of Otago. In her current position, she supports departmental research efforts, including the development of the eSp.Cas9(1.1)-T2A-EGFP plasmid for studies on endoplasmic reticulum calcium dynamics in CALR mutations and assistance in generating gene-edited plants for investigations into FLOWERING LOCUS T genes MtFTb1 and MtFTb2, as acknowledged in 2025 publications. Her technical expertise and prior research contributions continue to advance molecular biology, enzyme engineering, and synthetic biology applications in combating bacterial infections and facilitating gene editing at the University of Otago.