Bulletin

Issue: May 2006

News

‘Millisia brevis’ bacteria that bears her name

As part of PhD research into bacteria causing foaming in wastewater treatment plants, Dr Jacques Soddell at the Bendigo campus – working with a group at the University of Newcastle, England – identified a new genus in a family of bacteria.

Professor of Microbiology and Head of the University’s Waste Water Research Laboratory on the Bendigo campus, Robert Seviour, who supervised the research, said only eight genera are currently recognised in this family of bacteria.

‘Convention has been to name these after eminent microbiologists who have made important contributions to their study or the environments from which they were isolated. Dr Soddell thought he should follow this tradition, and decided to name this new genus Millisia after Professor Millis, in recognition of her contributions to water microbiology, and his strain Millisia brevis, reflecting its morphological features.’

Professor Seviour said after a lengthy process of review, the research paper naming the new genus was accepted by the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. It was published in April – the month of Professor Millis’ retirement as Chancellor. So the genus name Millisia will from now sit in the textbooks alongside other bacteria known and Nocardia, Gordonia, Dietzia and Williamsia.

Professor Millis, who continues to chair the national board of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment, a role she has held since 1995, said she was delighted to have the bacteria named after her – notwithstanding its less than glamorous function in the waste water cycle.

Nancy Millis Lecture

Another enduring legacy is La Trobe University’s annual signature science event – the Nancy Millis Lecture. Now in its seventh year, it will be presented in October by Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer, Director of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at the University of Queensland.

The lecture, dealing with infection and cancer, will be held on Tuesday, 10 October, 6 pm West Lecture Theatre 1, on the University’s main Melbourne campus at Bundoora. Previous lecturers have included Professors Peter Doherty, Sir Gustav Nossal and Adrienne Clarke.