Dr Binod Rayamajhee, a microbiologist, joined the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Human Sciences in 2025 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He is currently engaged in multidisciplinary research on dietary interventions for the prevention and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). His work integrates both preclinical and clinical studies using multi-omics approaches through cross-disciplinary collaborations with Concord Hospital and Macquarie University Hospital. Previous studies have mostly examined gut bacteria in isolation using germ-free mice, leaving it unclear how individual strains and dietary molecules influence the immune system within a community. To address this, Binod is developing a defined synthetic gut microbiome model that resembles human gut diversity and replicates the immune-modulatory functions of the human microbiome.

Binod completed his PhD at UNSW Sydney in 2024, with a thesis on "Investigation of genotypes and intracellular microbiome composition of Acanthamoeba species and the effect of intracellular microbes on the pathogenesis of the amoebal host" and he also holds an MSc in Medical Microbiology. During his PhD, Binod investigated the prevalence of Acanthamoeba spp. in public lagoons water along the four coastal lagoons on the east coast of the greater Sydney region using a comprehensive metagenomic approach. Additionally, subsequent studies within his thesis assessed the impact of naturally acquired viable intracellular bacteria by Acanthamoeba on the development of Acanthamoeba keratitis in animal models. During his cross-disciplinary thesis project, Binod collaborated with clinicians, government institutions, water professionals, and keratitis patients.

Apart from host–microbe interactions and the gut microbiome, Binod has a special interest in infectious diseases, genomic surveillance, and in examining how climate change influences the emergence and spread of pathogens through a One Health lens.