Angela Cornelius

Angela joined ESR in 1994, and is now a senior scientist in Food, Water and Biowaste group.

Qualifications

Angela earned her BSc in Microbiology at the University of Otago, MSc (Food Science) at the University of Auckland and is working on a PhD from Massey University.

About

With a solid background in public health microbiology her research interests relate to the molecular detection and characterisation of foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Angela has developed a rapid, cost-effective method for the typing of Campylobacter jejuni and C, coli which collectively are the most commonly reported cause fo bacterial gastroenteritis in teh world and account for over a third in notified cases of gastroenteritis in New Zealand. As part of her doctoral project, Angela has developed a molecular assay for the detection of over 20 species from Epsionproteobacteria, a bacterial class containing 17 genera including Campylogacter. In addition, Angela has expertise in the molecular detection and/or typing of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Yersinia entercolitica and the toxin genes associated with Clostridium botulinum. Current activities include the utilisation of next generation sequencing, and related technologies, to characterise microbial communities.