Professor Natkunam Ketheesan

Professor in Biomedical Science (Infection & Immunity) - School of Science and Technology

Natkunam Ketheesan

Phone: +61 6773 2991

Email: nkethees@une.edu.au

Biography

Professor Ketheesan is an academic with interests in teaching, research and research training. He obtaining his undergraduate education at the Vinnitsa State Medical University (Ukraine), and went on to complete his MSc in Clinical Immunology and PhD at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). After holding combined teaching and research academic positions at universities of Leeds, Western Australia, Queensland and at James Cook University, he joined University of New England in 2018 and is currently a tenured Professor in Biomedical Science (Infection and Immunity). He also holds adjunct professorial positions both in other Australian and overseas universities.

Ketheesan’s research focus is on investigating host-pathogen interactions in clinically relavent bacterial infections enabling the development of strategies to better combat infections. His group has developed novel preclinical models to determine host-pathogen interactions in rheumatic heart disease, melioidosis, tuberculosis and Q fever. His work has been funded by both international and national funding agencies including the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council. Ketheesan has published extensively(>140 publications; h-index 37; i10-index 99; annual citations in last 5 years of over 250) with multidisciplinary teams of over 225 co-authors and has delivered over 230 conference presentations and invited seminars.

During his tenure at Australian regional universities, he has supervised to completion over 50 graduate and post graduate researchers in multidisciplinary biomedical fields that overlap with immunology and infectious diseases. As a passionate educator, he contributes to the development and delivery of innovative teaching programmes both in Australia and overseas.

Qualifications

Professional

PhD, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
MSc, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
MD (Hons), Vinnitsa Medical University, Ukraine

Fellowships

FFSc RCPA - Fellow of the Faculty of Science Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia
FACTM - Fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine

Teaching Credentials

Cert. Higher Education Pedagogy, Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning, Harvard University
Graduate Cert. Education, University of Queensland, Australia

Teaching Interests

Immunology
Host-Pathogen Interaction
Infectious Diseases
Immunohaematology
Medical Biotechnology
Research Methods

Publications

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4870-706X

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Ketheesan+N

https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=JTCo1FcAAAAJ&hl=en

  1. Reynolds S, Rafeek RAM, Hamlin H, Lepletier A, Pandey M, Ketheesan N, Michael FM (2023) Good1Title peptide-conjugate vaccine candidates do not induce deleterious autoimmune responses in a rodent model of rheumatic heart disease Nature Vaccine: 8(1):9. doi: 10.1038/s41541-023-00604-2.
  2. Rafeek RA, Hamlin AS, Andronicos NM, Lawlor CS, McMillan DJ, Sriprakash KS, Ketheesan N(2022)Characterization of an experimental model to determine streptococcal M protein-induced autoimmune cardiac and neurobehavioral abnormalities. Immunology and Cell Biology100(8):653-666
  3. McMillan DJ, Rafeek RAM, Norton R, Good MF, Sriprakash KS, Ketheesan N (2021) In search of the Holy Grail: a specific diagnostic test for rheumatic fever. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine 14; 8:674805. PMID: 34055941
  4. Morris JL, Govan BL, Rush CM, Ketheesan N (2021) Identification of defective early immune responses to Burkholderia pseudomallei infection in a diet-induced murine model of type 2 diabetes. Microbes and Infection (Spotlight of Edition). 8: 23 (doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2021.104793. PMID: 33571673)
  5. Heacock-Kang Y, McMillan IA, Norris MH, Sun Z, Zarzycki-Siek J, Bluhm AP, Cabanas D, Norton RE, Ketheesan N, Miller JF, Schweizer HP, Hoang TT (2021) The Burkholderia pseudomallei intracellular 'TRANSITome'. Nature Communications (Spotlight of Edition). 2021 12(1):1907
  6. Sikder S, Williams NL, Sorenson AE, Alim MA, Vidgen ME, Moreland NJ, Rush CM, Simpson RS, Govan BL, Norton RE, Cunningham MW, McMillan DJ, Sriprakash KS, Ketheesan N (2018) Group G streptococcus induces an autoimmune IL-17A/IFN-γ mediated carditis in the Lewis rat model of Rheumatic Heart Disease. Journal of Infectious Diseases 218(2):324-335. Front Cover Illustration (Volume 218, Issue 2, 15 July 2018)
  7. Morris JL, Bridson TL, Alim MA, Rush CM, Rudd DM, Govan BL, Ketheesan N (2016) Development of a diet-induced murine model of diabetes featuring cardinal metabolic and pathophysiological abnormalities of type 2 diabetes. Biology Open 5(8):1149-62
  8. Gorton D, Sikder S, Williams N, Chilton L, Rush CM, Govan BL, Cunningham MW, Ketheesan N (2016) Repeat exposure to group A streptococcal M protein exacerbates cardiac damage in a rat model of rheumatic heart disease. Autoimmunity 25; 1-8
  9. Martinez N, Ketheesan N, West K, Vallerskog T, Kornfeld H (2016) Impaired Recognition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Alveolar Macrophages from Diabetic Mice. Journal of Infectious Diseases 214(11):1629-1637.
  10. Hodgson K, Morris J, Bridson T, Govan B, Rush C, Ketheesan N (2015) Immunological mechanisms contributing to the double burden of diabetes and intracellular bacterial infections. Immunology 144(2):171-185

Monograph

Ketheesan N (2012) Editor: Melioidosis: a century of research and observation; Elsevier Press ISBN 0 444 522025 0

https://espaces.edu.au/melioidosis/melioidosis-a-century-of-observation-and-research/view

Memberships

Faculty of Science, Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia
Australasian College of Tropical Medicine
Australian Society for Medical Research
Australasian Society for Immunology
British Society for Immunology

Related Links

YouTube Clips on Basic Immunology for Beginners

Basic Immunology: our immune system: https://bit.ly/2CxWc2J

Immune system in 333 seconds: https://bit.ly/2rAiRcv