Staff profile

Dr Shakuntla Gondalia has worked extensively in area of applied microbiology since 2006. Her research has focused on gut microbiota to understand its role in psychological health and disease condition, leading numerous projects examining the role of gut microbiota in human cognition through Gut-Microbiome-Brain axis. Her work involve pre-clinical and clinical trials to modulate gut microbiome composition through diet, prebiotics and probiotics to improve the gut health which leads to better health in general.

She has completed her BSc in microbiology and biochemistry and MSc in applied microbiology from India. She moved to Melbourne in 2008 where she started her PhD with at Deakin University in supervision with Prof David Austin. She has earned her PhD in 2014 from Deakin University in multidiscipline, molecular biology and psychology. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University before joining CSIRO. She is supervising PhD student as well as honors students. She has successfully secure funding as primary and co-investigator through Australian Defence, Industry, university seed funding and philanthropy. Dr Gondalia’s goal is to contribute to the community through evidence-based research that positively influence public health and wellbeing.

Further, she is a mother of a boy, a microbiome storyteller and gut health communicator. She actively support women in science and STEM in school education.