Our gut microbiome is vital for health and carries out many functions that we can’t ourselves.  An imbalance in the microbiome is associated with multiple diseases. Dr O’Brien’s work aims at identifying the nature of gut microbiome imbalance in different disease states; attempts to determine whether the observed changes cause disease or are a consequence of the disease process; as well as understand ways in which we can restore the gut microbiome following perturbation.  Dr O’Brien has a particular interest in the inflammatory bowel diseases, and uses in vitro co-culture of bacteria and macrophages, combined with molecular genetic techniques, to increase our mechanistic understanding of host-bacteria interactions in these diseases.

Claire was awarded her PhD by the ANU Medical School in 2012 for her work investigating the role of microbes in the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Following her PhD, she was awarded an Australian Academy of Science France-Australia Science Innovation Collaboration Early Career Fellowship, and an NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Research Fellowship.  Previously, she was a Lecturer at the ANU Medical School and Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong. Claire joined UC in July 2020, and is Group Leader of the Host-Microbe Interactions group.