Associate Professor Karen Vickery

BVSc (Hons) (USyd), MVSc (USyd), PhD (USyd), MASM.

Macquarie University Vice Chancellor Innovation Fellow. Scientific Director, Surgical Infection Research Group, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University.

Research Overview

A/Professor Vickery graduated from Veterinary Science with honours in 1979 and worked in general veterinary practice in NSW and in the United Kingdom. She obtained her PhD in 1996 investigating hepatitis B virus (HBV). She is a Scientific Director for the Surgical Infection Research Group at Macquarie University (MQ) and is primarily responsible for investigating medically important biofilms. In 2011, she was awarded a MQ Vice Chancellors Innovation Fellowship to investigate biofilm contamination of medical implants and surfaces. In 2013 she became lead investigator on an ARC Linkage grant researching detergency and surface biofilms. A/Professor Vickery has 67 peer reviewed journal articles and a career H index of 23.

Research Translation

A/Professor Vickery’s publications on blood borne viruses, biofilm and disinfection have served to educate professionals involved with disinfection and sterilization. In 2009, her method for biocide efficacy testing against HBV (Epidemiol Infect 1991;106: 435) was recommended by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in TGO#54B. Her papers have laid the foundation for the introduction of better decontamination protocols and are referenced by professional societies like Gastroenterological Society of Australia, 2010 (Infection Control in Endoscopy) and the 2009 Standards of Infection Control in Reprocessing Flexible Endoscopes, Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) USA.

A/Professor Vickery continues to work on medically relevant biofilms. She is actively involved in:

• Prevention of biofilm formation on implantable medical devices by surface modification.
• Early diagnosis of biofilm formation on implantable medical devices.
• Biofilm removal strategies from hospital surfaces.
• Investigating the role that biofilm plays in the transmission of infection within the healthcare environment.
• Improving healing of biofilm infected chronic wounds.