Professor Morrison is Chair and group leader of Microbial Biology and Metagenomics at the University of Queensland’s Frazer Institute and holds an Honorary Professorship with the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine.

 

He also serves as the science lead for the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Brisbane, and in support of the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Transforming Gut Health.

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Morrison has studied the gastrointestinal microbiota of humans and other animals his entire career, recognized worldwide for his abilities to bring microbial genomes to life.  His contributions include studies with Australian and French clinicians and scientists to advance the concept of microbial “dysbiosis” as a hallmark of inflammatory bowel diseases.

 

At UQ and as part of the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Digestive Health he has developed approaches enabling the quantification and cultivation of the specialised microbial communities adherent to mucosal tissue at different gut segments, offering new opportunities to improve diagnosis and provide “drugs from bugs”.  

 

He was elected to the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and serves as Australia’s science representative (and a founding member) of the International Human Microbiome Consortium.

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