Qualifications | Research interests | Publications | Presentations
Barbara obtained her PhD in molecular characterisation of plant pathogenic fungi at the University of Queensland, and afterwards completed a post-doctoral project on population genetics of plant pathogens. She has worked as a Research Scientist in the Forensic and Scientific Services Organic Chemistry Laboratory at Queensland Health since 2007.
Barbara’s role is to study toxic blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), in particular developing diagnostic tests for their detection in drinking and recreational waters. Barbara is particularly interested in toxigenic benthic cyanobacteria as her research has shown this group of organisms produces toxins in creeks and rivers which are part of the catchment for major drinking water dams. She is part of the Phycology unit where a collection of more than 100 strains of cyanobacteria is housed and where cyanobacteria are also routinely identified and enumerated by staff in the unit.
Barbara’s research is focused on understanding the toxigenicity and phylogeny of freshwater and marine cyanobacteria in Australia, utilising a combination of molecular, morphological and chemical methodologies. To facilitate this interest, she is participating in ongoing collaborations in which novel toxic and nuisance-bloom cyanobacteria have been identified and characterised with DNA-based methodology.
Barbara’s research assists in identifying toxigenic cyanobacteria which can form blooms in drinking and recreational water and therefore potentially impact on human health. Barbara and colleagues Amy Jennison and Rikki Graham from Public Health Microbiology have recently commenced a collaborative project with the Australian Rivers Institute, CSIRO and the Department of Environment and Science on characterisation of toxic marine cyanobacteria in Moreton Bay. Additionally, a collaborative project with the Department of Environment and Science in 2019 identified the cyanobacterium responsible for frequent nuisance blooms in the Murray-Darling catchment in Victoria. An ongoing collaborative project with Department of Environment and Science and Tweed Shire Council has led to the identification of anatoxin-producing populations of Microcoleus autumnalis in rivers and creeks in both northern NSW and south east QLD.
Developing an understanding of the distribution and abundance of toxigenic cyanobacteria assists water authorities in supplying safe drinking water to Queenslanders and ensuring the risk of exposure to toxins during recreational activities is minimised.
McGregor GB, Sendall BC, Niiyama Y, Tuji A, Willis A, (2023). Chrysosporum ovalisporum is synonymous with the true-branching cyanobacterium Umezakia natans (Nostocales/Aphanizomenonaceae. Journal of Phycology. DOI: 10.1111/jpy.13317
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2022) Cyanobacterial diversity and taxonomic uncertainty: polyphasic pathways to improved resolution. In: Advances in Phytoplankton Ecology. Ed: Clementson LA, Eriksen RS, Willis A. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Netherlands. pp. 7-45. 10.1016/B978-0-12-822861-6.00008-X
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2020) True branching and phenotypic plasticity in the planktonic cyanobacterium Dolichospermum planctonicum (Nostocales, Aphanizomenonaceae). Phytotaxa 49:93-114.
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2019) Potamosiphon australiensis gen. nov., sp nov. (Oscillatoriales), a new filamentous cyanobacterium from subtropical north-eastern Australia. Phytoaxa, 387(2). DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.387.2.1
Sendall BC, McGregor GB (2018) Cryptic diversity within the Scytonema complex: characterization of the paralytic shellfish toxin producer Heterosyctonema crispum, and the establishment of the family Heteroscytonemataceae (Cyanobacteria/Nostocales). Harmful Algae, 80 . pp. 158-170. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2018.11.002
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2017) Ewamiania thermalis gen. et sp. nov (Cyanobacteria, Scytonemataceae), a new cyanobacterium from Talaroo thermal springs, north-eastern Australia. Australian Systematic Botany. 30(1): 38-47. DOI: 10.1071/SB16039
Gaget V, Lau M, Sendall BC, Froscio, S, Humpage AR (2017) Cyanotoxins: which detection technique for an optimum risk assessment? Water Research, 118(1): 227-238. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.04.025
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2017) Iningainema pulvinus gen nov., sp nov. (Cyanobacteria, Scytonemataceae) a new nodularin producer from Edgbaston Reserve, north-eastern Australia. Harmful Algae. 62: 10-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2016.11.021
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2015) Phylogeny and toxicology of Lyngbya wollei (Cyanobacteria, Oscillatoriales) from north-eastern Australia, with a description of Microseira gen.nov. Journal of Phycology. 51(1): 109-119. DOI: 10.1111/jpy.12256
McGregor GB, Sendall BC (2013) Komvophoron kgariii sp. nov. (Oscillatoriales), a new epipelic cyanobacterium from subtropical eastern Australia. Phycologia. 52(6): 472-480. DOI: 10.2216/13-143.1
Baker L, Sendall BC, Gasser RB, Menjivar T, Neilan, BA, Jex AR (2013) Rapid multiplex-tandem PCR assay for automated detection and differentiation of toxigenic cyanobacterial blooms. Molecular and Cellular Probes. 27(5-6):208-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.mcp.2013.07.001
McGregor GB, Stewart I, Sendall BC, Sadler R, Reardon K, Carter S, Wruck D, Wickramasinghe W (2012) First report of a toxic Nodularia spumigena (Nostocales/Cyanobacteria) bloom in sub-tropical Australia. II. Bioaccumulation of nodularin in isolated populations of mullet (Mugilidae). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(7):2412-43. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph9072412
McGregor GB, Stewart I, Sendall BC, Sadler R, Reardon K, Carter S, Wruck D, Wickramasinghe W (2012) First report of a toxic Nodularia spumigena (Nostocales/Cyanobacteria) bloom in sub-tropical Australia. I. Phycological and public health investigations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(7): 2396-2411. DOI:10.3390/ijerph9072396
McGregor GB, Sendall BC, Hunt LT, Eaglesham GK (2011) Report of the cyanotoxins cylindrospermopsin and deoxy-cylindrospermopsin from Raphidiopsis mediterranea Skuja (Cyanobacteria/Nostocales). Harmful Algae. 10(4): 402-410. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2011.02.002
Sept 2023: Mistaken identity: critical needs for improved taxonomic resolution to inform management responses to potentially harmful blooms, with McGregor GB, Willis A. In: 8th Australia and New Zealand Cyanobacteria Workshop, Melbourne, Victoria.
Sept 2021: First report of anatoxin-a production by the freshwater filamentous cyanobacterium Microcoleus in Australia, with Wright P, McGregor GB. In: 7th Australia and New Zealand Cyanobacteria Workshop, Adelaide, South Australia.
Sept 2021: Cryptic diversity and phenotypic plasticity: implications for bloom monitoring and management, with Mcgregor GB. In: 7th Australia and New Zealand Cyanobacteria Workshop, Adelaide, South Australia (Abstract).
Aug 2019: Cryptic diversity: challenges and opportunities for recognising cyanobacterial diversity, with McGregor GB. In: 21st Symposium of the International Association of Cyanophyte/Cyanobacteria Research, North Stradbroke Island, Brisbane, Qld.
Aug 2019: Characterisation of the bloom-forming marine cyanobacterium ‘Lyngbya’ in south east Queensland, Australia, with McGregor GB, Willis A, Burford M, Graham RM. In: 21st Symposium of the International Association of Cyanophyte/Cyanobacteria Research, North Stradbroke Island, Brisbane, Qld.
Sept 2016: What lies beneath? The prevalence of toxigenic Scytonema in benthic freshwater environments in south-east Queensland. In: 5th National Cyanobacteria Workshop, Brisbane, Qld.
Oct 2014: Detection of cyanotoxin genes in freshwater benthic cyanobacteria from sub-tropical south-eastern Australia using multiplex real time PCR. In: 16th International Conference on Harmful Algae, Wellington, New Zealand.
Dr Barbara Sendall
Scientist, Phycology
Organic Chemistry, Public and Environmental Health
email: barbara.sendall@health.qld.gov.au
phone: +61 7 3096 2843