Dr Ipek Kurtböke has been working in the field of Biodiscovery since 1982 and has been associated with the international actinomycete research community for over 38 years. Her most significant contribution to the field has been the development of a novel isolation technique that selectively cultures rare actinomycetes with industrial importance.
Assoc. Prof. Ipek Kurtböke has been working in the field of Biodiscovery since 1982 and has been associated with the international actinomycete research community for over 40 years (Accelerating antibiotic discovery: Actinomycetes & actinophages (researchfeatures.com). Her most significant contribution to the field has been the development of a novel isolation technique that selectively cultures rare actinomycetes with industrial importance.
Assoc. Prof.Kurtböke received CNR (1984, Italy), NATO-Double Jump (1986), British Council (1988-89) fellowships in Europe and was Honorary Research Fellow of the Antarctic CRC at the University of Tasmania (1999-2002).
Her expertise in the microbial culture collections and their sustainable use for biotechnology links her to the World Federation for Culture Collections and is currently serving her second term as the President of the Federation (2020-2024).
Since joining the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2001, she has developed undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programs in the field of applied microbiology and biotechnology, as well as conducting research in environmental, biomedical, agricultural and food microbiology. She is a Senior Fellow (SFHEA), UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education. She aligns her teaching with the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on Microbiology Discipline-based Teaching.
She has also created a Microbial Library as a resource for teaching and research purposes which contains diverse and bioactive actinomycetes and bacteriophages. Examples of the use of microorganisms from the library include:
- Panchalingam, H., Ashfield-Crook, N., Naik, V., Frenken, R., Foster, K., Tomlin, R., Shapcott, A. and Kurtböke, D.İ., 2022. Testing the Biocontrol Ability of a Trichoderma-Streptomycetes Consortium against Pyrrhoderma noxium (Corner) LW Zhou and YC Dai in Soil. Journal of Fungi, 9(1), p.67.
Professional Memberships
- ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee.
- Society for General Microbiology (UK)
- Australian Society of Microbiology
- Turkish Society for Microbiology
Research areas
- Microbial ecology, diversity and systematics
- Applied and environmental microbiology and biotechnology and bioremediation
- Bacteriophages and bacteriophage therapy
- Industrial microbiology and biodiscovery
- Waste management and bioconversion of waste into environmentally friendly bio-fertilizers
- Biological control of plant pathogens
- Marine and aquatic microbiology
Teaching areas
- Microbiology
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Pharmaceutical and Food Microbiology
Professional Editorial Roles
- Chair, Editorial Board, Microbiology Australia
- Associate Editor and Section Editor-in-Chief, Marine Drugs
- Section Editor-in-Chief, Diversity
- Associate Editor, Frontiers Marine Science/Marine Biotechnology
Recent Highlighted Publications
- Turner, D., Shkoporov, A.N., Lood, C. Millard, A.D., Dutilh, B.E., Alfenas‑Zerbini, P., van Zyl, L.J., Aziz, R.K., Oksanen, H.M., Poranen, M.M., Kropinski, A.M., Barylski, J., Brister, J.R., Chanishvili, N., Edwards, R.A., Enault, F., Gillis, A., Knezevic, P., Krupovic, M., Kurtböke, I., Kushkina, A.I., Lavigne, R., Lehman, S., Lobocka, M., Moraru, C., Moreno Switt, A.I., Morozova, V.V., Nakavuma, J., Reyes Munoz, A., Rumnieks, J., Sarkar, B.L., Sullivan, M.B., Uchiyama, J., Wittmann, J., Tong, Y. and Adriaenssens, E.M. (2023) Abolishment of morphology-based taxa and change to binomial species names: 2022 taxonomy update of the ICTV bacterial viruses subcommittee. Archives of Virology 168, 74 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05694-2
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Panchalingam, H., Ashfield-Crook, N., Naik, V., Frenken, R., Foster, K., Tomlin, R., Shapcott, A. and Kurtböke, D.İ., 2022. Testing the Biocontrol Ability of a Trichoderma-Streptomycetes Consortium against Pyrrhoderma noxium (Corner) LW Zhou and YC Dai in Soil. Journal of Fungi, 9(1), p.67.
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Adra, C., Panchalingam, H., & Kurtböke, D. İ. (2022). Termite–gut-associated actinomycetes as biological control agents against phytopathogen Pyrrhoderma noxium. Microbiology Australia, 43(4), 190-193.
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Kurtboke, D.I. (2022, Ed.). Importance of Microbiology Teaching and Microbial Resource Management for Sustainable Futures. Academic Press, https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-00587-3.
- Le, T.S., Southgate, P.C., O’Connor, W., Abramov, T., Shelley, D., V Vu, S. and Kurtböke, D.İ. (2020). Use of bacteriophages to control Vibrio contamination of microalgae used as a food source for oyster larvae during hatchery culture. Current Microbiology, 77, 1811–1820.
- Le, T.S., Southgate, P.C., O’Connor, W., Vu, S.V. and Kurtböke, D.İ. (2020). Application of bacteriophages to control Vibrio alginolyticus contamination in oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) larvae. Antibiotics, 9(7), 415, doi:10.3390/antibiotics9070415.
- Buedenbender, L., Carroll, A.R. and Kurtböke, D.İ. (2019). Detecting co-cultivation induced chemical diversity via 2D NMR fingerprints. Microbiology Australia, 40(4): 186-189.
- Wilson, A., Fox, E., Fegan, N. and Kurtböke, D.Í., (2019). Comparative genomics and phenotypic investigations into antibiotic, heavy metal and disinfectant susceptibilities of Salmonella enterica strains isolated in Australia. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, p.1620.
- Gordon, S.E., Wingfield, M., Kurtböke, D.I. and Southgate, P.C. (2019). Effects of nucleus position, profile and arrangement on the quality of mabé pearls produced by the winged pearl oyster, Pteria penguin. Aquaculture, 498, 109-115.
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Ashfield-Crook, Nina R., Zachary Woodward, Martin Soust, and D. İpek Kurtböke. Assessment of the detrimental impact of polyvalent streptophages intended to be used as biological control agents on beneficial soil streptoflora. Current Microbiology 75 (2018): 1589-1601.
- Buedenbender, L., Habener, L. J., Grkovic, T., Kurtböke, D.İ., Duffy, S., Avery, V.M., and Carroll, A.R. (2018). HSQC–TOCSY Fingerprinting for prioritization of polyketide-and peptide-producing microbial isolates. Journal of Natural Products, 81(4), 957-965.
- Buedenbender, L.; Robertson, L.P.; Lucantoni, L.; Avery, V.M.; Kurtböke, D.İ. and Carroll, A.R. (2018). HSQC-TOCSY fingerprinting-directed discovery of antiplasmodial polyketides from the marine ascidian-derived Streptomyces (USC-16018). Marine Drugs, 16, 189.
- Le, T.S.; Nguyen, T.H.; Vo, H.P.; Doan, V.C.; Nguyen, H.L.; Tran, M.T.; Tran, T.T.; Southgate, P.C. and Kurtböke, D.İ. (2018). Protective effects of bacteriophages against Aeromonas hydrophila causing motile Aeromonas Septicemia (MAS) in striped catfish. Antibiotics, 7,
Dr Ipek Kurtboke's specialist areas of knowledge include food microbiology and fermentation microbiology, biotechnology, marine microbiology