About
Vladimir's early interest in the life sciences lead to extensive work in applied microbiology. Largely focused on the yeast and bacteria that undertake wine and beer fermentations, his work has lead to a greater understanding of the activities of these microbes in these processes, and how they can be optimised to ensure process efficiency, sustainability and quality improvements. More recently his group have discovered new species of microbes from the Australian wilderness, novel interactions and communication between microbial cells as well as with other organisms, such as insects. Apart from being fascinating from a fundamental point of view, these latest discoveries are being assessed for possibilities for the enhancement of commercial processes, the control of agricultural pest and diseases, and for insights into human pathogen behaviour.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Microbiology of beverage fermentations
- Cell-cell interations and filamentous/invasive growth in yeast
- How has yeast evolved to survive in nature and interact with insects
- Microbiology of fermentations conducted by Australian Aboriginal people
Publications
Teaching
BIOL1030 - How to Think Like a Scientist 2023-24 - Personal Academic Tutor
BIOL2038 / 2044 Environmental Microbiology – Lectures on Fungi and microsporidia, and viruses
Wine Evaluation 101 (Intensive short course offered on demand)
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Vladimir has a PhD from the University of Adelaide for work on wine yeast nutritional requirements, undertaken jointly with the Australian Wine Research Institute. This was followed by a postdoctoral position with Prof Susan Henry at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh investigating phospholipid metabolism in yeast, before joining the University of Auckland as Lecturer in Fermentation Technology/Microbial Physiology. After helping establish a degree in biotechnology, Vladimir returned to the University of Adelaide as a Lecturer in Oenology. Over almost 3 decades he expanded his work on fermentation microbe optimisation, to include the identification of new species and the commercialision of others. He led the Department of Wine Science for a decade, before returning to more fundamental research in 2023 at the University of Southampton. Key interests include microbial interactions, cell morphological switching and the characterisation of novel species and their possible application in industry and agriculture.