Postdoctoral Fellow
Email heather.shearer@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 378 6159
Research interests
Postdoctoral Fellow Heather Shearer is investigating the mechanisms underlying S. pneumoniae resistance to oxidants.
She recently completed her PhD project on the sensitivity of S. pneumoniae to oxidative stress, and how we can improve the killing of these pathogenic bacteria by our immune systems.
Publications
Shearer, H. L., Pace, P. E., Smith, L. M., Fineran, P. C., Matthews, A. J., Camilli, A., Dickerhof, N., & Hampton, M. B. (2023). Identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae genes associated with hypothiocyanous acid tolerance through genome-wide screening. Journal of Bacteriology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1128/jb.00208-23
Shearer, H. L., Loi, V. V., Weiland, P., Bange, G., Altegoer, F., Hampton, M. B., … Dickerhof, N. (2023). MerA functions as a hypothiocyanous acid reductase and defense mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus. Molecular Microbiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/mmi.15035
Shearer, H. (2022, December). A Streptococcus pneumoniae genome-wide screen identifies genes that confer tolerance to hypothiocyanous acid. Verbal presentation at the Society for Free Radical Research (SFRR) Australasia & Japan Conference: Redox Pathways in Biology & Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Shearer, H. L., Parker, H. A., Pace, P. E., Hampton, M. B., & Dickerhof, N. (2022, August). Sensitising Streptococcus pneumoniae to oxidative stress. Poster session presented at the Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases Satellite Meeting: Queenstown Research Week, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Shearer, H. L., Pace, P. E., Paton, J. C., Hampton, M. B., & Dickerhof, N. (2022). A newly identified flavoprotein disulfide reductase Har protects Streptococcus pneumoniae against hypothiocyanous acid. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 298(9), 102359. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102359