Actinomycetes in Marine and Extreme Environments (ePub)

Dr. Kurtböke's experiences in the field of biodiscovery with actinomycetes date back to 1982 when she was first involved in the large-scale production of antibiotic gentamicin in Eczacibasi Ilä A.S. in Istanbul, Türkiye. Subsequently she was at the University of Milan in Italy (1983-86) for graduate research followed by a Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool, UK (1990). Her most significant contribution has been the development of a novel isolation technique that selectively cultures rare actinomycetes with industrial importance which was adopted and applied by leading pharmaceutical companies since the 1990s. Since taking up her first post-doctoral position at the University of Western Australia (1990), she has established bio-resource libraries for joint screening ventures with leading pharmaceutical companies in different settings in Australia. She was one of the key scientists involved in the establishment of AMRAD Discovery Technologies Pty. Ltd.'s Australia's largest bioresource library in Melbourne (1995-2000). Since 2001 she has been at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) in Queensland, Australia, currently Associate Professor and teaching and conducting research in the fields of applied, industrial and environmental microbiology.


Dr. Kurtböke's methodological strength in the field of actinomycetology played a key role in the detection of novel actinomycetes and contributed towards the establishment of yet another microbial library of bioactive actinomycetes at the UniSC. The library has been used for research and teaching activities at the UniSC as well as in collaborative partnership with regional, national, and international institutions for the discovery of new drugs, agro-biologicals, enzymes, and environmentally friendly biotechnological innovations. She has been an Executive Board Member of the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC) since 2000, currently serving her second term as the President of the Federation (2017-2020,