The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Dr Celeste Donato

- | celeste.donato@unimelb.edu.au

Position:
Research Fellow
Theme(s):
Viral Infectious Diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance, Bacterial and Parasitic Infections, Public Health, Global Health, Computational Science and Genomics
Unit(s):
The University of Melbourne, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI)
Lab Group(s):
Howden Group

Dr Celeste Donato completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at La Trobe University and then undertook her PhD at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and La Trobe University with Associate Professor Carl Kirkwood and Professor Ruth Bishop. Graduating in 2015, she then completed a two-year postdoc at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. She returned to Australia after being awarded an NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellowship which was conducted at Monash University and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Doherty Institute in 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow leading the Candida auris and E. coli One Health projects within the Australian Pathogen Genomics program.

  • Key Achievements
    • Celeste has extensive collaborations across Southeast Asia and Africa; and supervises Masters and PhD students in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. Her work has resulted in multiple lead author publications in Nature Communications, Journal of Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

    Publications
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    Research Groups
    • Howden Group

      Research from Professor Ben Howden’s group uses genomics, molecular biology, epidemiology and clinical studies to address a broad range of issues related to invasive bacterial diseases in humans, especially those caused by staphylococci, enterococci and other antimicrobial-resistant species. Additionally, working closely with scientists in the MDU PHL, they investigate the epidemiology, evolution and spread of bacterial pathogens of public health significance such as Neisseria gonorrhoea, Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella and Salmonella spp., Legionella spp., and carbapenemase-producing gram-negative bacteria.


      Lab Team

      Howden Group

      • Director Of Microbiological Diagnostic Unit (MDU) Public Health Laboratory
      • Deputy Director, Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory
      • Adrianna Turner
        Research Assistant
      • Alexandra-Maria Blejusca
        Research Assistant
      • Ashleigh Hayes
        Research Assistant
      • Dr Calum Walsh
        Research Fellow
      • Dr Celeste Donato
        Research Fellow
      • Dr Chris Connor
        Research Fellow
      • NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
      • Diane Daniel
        AMR Research Scientist
      • Eddie Chan
        PhD student
      • Emily Sotheran
        PhD student
      • Research Fellow
      • Senior Project Officer
      • Jake Soley
        PhD student
      • Dr Jean Lee
        Research Fellow
      • Dr Jessica Webb
        Research Fellow
      • Jia Qi Beh
        PhD student
      • Joseph Napier
        Masters student
      • Karolina Mercoulia
        PhD student
      • Katie Cronin
        PhD student
      • Lamali Sadeesh Kumar
        PhD student
      • Lejla Kartal
        PhD student
      • Dr Lisa Ioannidis
        Centre for Pathogen Genomics Coordinator
      • Dr Louise Judd
        CPG/DAMG Senior Genomics Scientist
      • Lucy Li
        Research Assistant
      • Maria Duarte Aguilera
        AMR Research Technical Assistant
      • Dr Marielle Babinear
        CPG / DAMG
      • Marwa Alhotali
        PhD student
      • Senior Research Fellow
      • Mona Taouk
        PhD student
      • Munazzah Maqbool
        PhD student
      • Neta Petersiel
        PhD student
      • Nick Lim
        PhD student
      • Dr Patiyan Andersson
        Research Fellow
      • Dr Paul Kinsella
        PhD student
      • Rachel Cass
        AMR Research Technical Assistant
      • Research Fellow
      • Dr Ryan Wick
        Research Fellow
      • Samriddhi Thakur
        PhD student
      • Dr Sarah Baines
        Research Fellow
      • Sher Maine Tan
        PhD student
      • Clinician Researcher and Infectious Diseases Physician
      • Taylor Harshegyi
        CPG / DAMG
      • Thinley Dorji
        PhD student
      • Warasinee Mujchariyakul
        PhD student