Dr Leah Roberts
NHMRC EL1 Investigator Fellow
UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Journal Articles
Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Forde, Brian M., Ben Zakour, Nouri L., Phan, Minh-Duy, Roberts, Leah W., Beatson, Scott A. and Schembri, Mark A. (2024). Evolution of the pheV-tRNA integrated genomic island in Escherichia coli. PLoS Genetics, 20 (10) e1011459, e1011459. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011459
Tsang, Kara K., Lam, Margaret M. C., Wick, Ryan R., Wyres, Kelly L., Bachman, Michael, Baker, Stephen, Barry, Katherine, Brisse, Sylvain, Campino, Susana, Chiaverini, Alexandra, Cirillo, Daniela Maria, Clark, Taane, Corander, Jukka, Corbella, Marta, Cornacchia, Alessandra, Cuénod, Aline, D'Alterio, Nicola, Di Marco, Federico, Donado-Godoy, Pilar, Egli, Adrian, Farzana, Refath, Feil, Edward J., Fostervold, Aasmund, Gorrie, Claire L., Hassan, Brekhna, Hetland, Marit Andrea Klokkhammer, Hoa, Le Nguyen Minh, Hoi, Le Thi, Howden, Benjamin ... KlebNET-GSP AMR Genotype-Phenotype Group (2024). Diversity, functional classification and genotyping of SHV β-lactamases in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Microbial Genomics, 10 (10). doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001294
White, Rhys T., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Bauer, Michelle J., Bell, Jan, Butkiewicz, Dominika, Álvarez-Fraga, Laura, Gibson, Justine S., Kidsley, Amanda K., Mollinger, Joanne L., Peters, Kate M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Roberts, Leah W., Rogers, Benjamin A., Schembri, Mark A., Trott, Darren J., Turnidge, John, Forde, Brian M. and Beatson, Scott A. (2024). The complete genome sequence of five pre-2013 Escherichia coli sequence type (ST)1193 strains reveals insights into an emerging pathogen. Access Microbiology, 6 (10) 000894.v3, 1-15. doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000894.v3
Frolova, Daria, Lima, Leandro, Roberts, Leah Wendy, Bohnenkämper, Leonard, Wittler, Roland, Stoye, Jens and Iqbal, Zamin (2024). Applying rearrangement distances to enable plasmid epidemiology with pling. Microbial Genomics, 10 (10) 001300. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001300
Baker, Stephen, Krishna, Aishwarya, Higham, Sophie, Naydenova, Plamena, O’Leary, Siobhan, Scott, Josefin Bartholdson, Harcourt, Katherine, Forrest, Sally, Goulding, David, Thi Nguyen, To Nguyen, Toan, Nguyen Duc, Alekseeva, Elizaveta, Zhou, Qingqing, Andreozzi, Ilaria, Sobotic, Barbara, Craig, Hannah, Wong, Vivian, Forrest-Owen, Nichola, Sanchez, Dana Moreno, Pearce, Claire, Roberts, Leah, Watson, Simon, Clare, Simon, Torok, Mili Estee, Dougan, Gordon, Kellam, Paul, Tregoning, John S. and Reece, Stephen T. (2024). Exploiting human immune repertoire transgenic mice for protective monoclonal antibodies against antimicrobial resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 7979, 1-14. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52357-8
Hellewell, Joel, Horsfield, Samuel T., von Wachsmann, Johanna, Gurbich, Tatiana A., Finn, Robert D., Iqbal, Zamin, Roberts, Leah W. and Lees, John A. (2024). CELEBRIMBOR: core and accessory genes from metagenomes. Bioinformatics, 40 (9) btae542. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae542
Roberts, Leah W., Malone, Kerri M., Hunt, Martin, Joseph, Lavania, Wintringer, Penelope, Knaggs, Jeff, Crook, Derrick, Farhat, Maha R., Iqbal, Zamin and Omar, Shaheed (2024). MmpR5 protein truncation and bedaquiline resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from South Africa: a genomic analysis. The Lancet Microbe, 5 (8) 100847, 100847. doi: 10.1016/s2666-5247(24)00053-3
Permana, Budi, Harris, Patrick N. A., Roberts, Leah W., Cuddihy, Thom, Paterson, David L., Beatson, Scott A. and Forde, Brian M. (2024). HAIviz: an interactive dashboard for visualising and integrating healthcare-associated genomic epidemiological data. Microbial Genomics, 10 (2) 001200. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001200
Coll, Francesc, Gouliouris, Theodore, Blane, Beth, Yeats, Corin A., Raven, Kathy E., Ludden, Catherine, Khokhar, Fahad A., Wilson, Hayley J., Roberts, Leah W., Harrison, Ewan M., Horner, Carolyne S., Hoi, Le Thi, Hoa, Nguyen Thi, Trung, Nguyen Vu, Brown, Nicholas M., Holmes, Mark A., Parkhill, Julian, Toeroek, Mili Estee and Peacock, Sharon J. (2024). Antibiotic resistance determination using Enterococcus faecium whole-genome sequences: a diagnostic accuracy study using genotypic and phenotypic data. The Lancet Microbe, 5 (2), e151-e163. doi: 10.1016/s2666-5247(23)00297-5
Roberts, Leah W., Enoch, David A., Khokhar, Fahad, Blackwell, Grace A., Wilson, Hayley, Warne, Ben, Gouliouris, Theodore, Iqbal, Zamin and Toeroek, M. Estee (2023). Long- read sequencing reveals genomic diversity and associated plasmid movement of carbapenemase- producing bacteria in a UK hospital over 6 years. Microbial Genomics, 9 (7) 001048. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001048
Roberts, Leah W., Le Thi Hoi,, Khokhar, Fahad A., Nguyen Thi Hoa,, Tran Van Giang,, Cuong Bui,, Tran Hai Ninh,, Dao Xuan Co,, Nguyen Gia Binh,, Hoang Bao Long,, Dang Thi Huong,, Bryan, James E., Herrick, Archie, Feltwell, Theresa, Nadjm, Behzad, van Doorn, H. Rogier, Parkhill, Julian, Nguyen Vu Trung,, Nguyen Van Kinh,, Iqbal, Zamin and Torok, M. Estee (2022). Genomic characterisation of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter baumannii in two intensive care units in Hanoi, Viet Nam: a prospective observational cohort study. The Lancet Microbe, 3 (11), E857-E866. doi: 10.1016/s2666-5247(22)00181-1
Alvarez-Fraga, Laura, Phan, Minh-Duy, Goh, Kelvin G. K., Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Hancock, Steven J., Allsopp, Luke P., Peters, Kate M., Forde, Brian M., Roberts, Leah W., Sullivan, Matthew J., Totsika, Makrina, Beatson, Scott A., Ulett, Glen C. and Schembri, Mark A. (2022). Differential Afa/Dr fimbriae expression in the multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli ST131 clone. mBio, 13 (1) e03519, e0351921. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03519-21
Colquhoun, Rachel M., Hall, Michael B., Lima, Leandro, Roberts, Leah W., Malone, Kerri M., Hunt, Martin, Letcher, Brice, Hawkey, Jane, George, Sophie, Pankhurst, Louise and Iqbal, Zamin (2021). Pandora: nucleotide-resolution bacterial pan-genomics with reference graphs. Genome Biology, 22 (1) 267, 267. doi: 10.1186/s13059-021-02473-1
Hancock, Steven J., Phan, Minh‐Duy, Roberts, Leah, Vu, Thu Ngoc Minh, Harris, Patrick N.A., Beatson, Scott A. and Schembri, Mark A. (2021). Characterisation of DtrJ as an IncC plasmid conjugative DNA transfer component. Molecular Microbiology, 116 (1), 154-167. doi: 10.1111/mmi.14697
Murigneux, Valentine, Roberts, Leah W., Forde, Brian M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Irwin, Adam D., Harris, Patrick N. A., Paterson, David L., Schembri, Mark A., Whiley, David M. and Beatson, Scott A. (2021). MicroPIPE: validating an end-to-end workflow for high-quality complete bacterial genome construction. BMC Genomics, 22 (1) 474, 474. doi: 10.1186/s12864-021-07767-z
Roberts, Leah W., Forde, Brian M., Hurst, Trish, Ling, Weiping, Nimmo, Graeme R., Bergh, Haakon, George, Narelle, Hajkowicz, Krispin, McNamara, John F., Lipman, Jeffrey, Permana, Budi, Schembri, Mark A., Paterson, David, Beatson, Scott A. and Harris, Patrick N. A. (2021). Genomic surveillance, characterization and intervention of a polymicrobial multidrug-resistant outbreak in critical care. Microbial Genomics, 7 (3) 000530. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000530
Elliott, Thomas M., Harris, Patrick N., Roberts, Leah W., Doidge, Michelle, Hurst, Trish, Hajkowicz, Krispin, Forde, Brian, Paterson, David L. and Gordon, Louisa G. (2021). Cost-effectiveness analysis of whole-genome sequencing during an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology, 1 (1) e62, e62. doi: 10.1017/ash.2021.233
Henderson, A., Paterson, D. L., Chatfield, M. D., Tambyah, P. A., Lye, D. C., De, P. P., Lin, R. T. P., Chew, K. L., Yin, M., Lee, T. H., Yilmaz, M., Cakmak, R., Alenazi, T. H., Arabi, Y. M., Falcone, M., Bassetti, M., Righi, E., Rogers, B.A., Kanj, S. S., Bhally, H., Iredell, J., Mendelson, M., Boyles, T. H., Looke, D. F. M., Runnegar, N. J., Miyakis, S., Walls, G., AI Khamis, M., Zikri, A. ... For the MERINO Trial Investigators and the Australasian Society for Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network (ASID-CRN) (2020). Association between minimum inhibitory concentration, beta-lactamase genes and mortality for patients treated with piperacillin/tazobactam or meropenem from the MERINO study. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 73 (11), e3842-e3850. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1479
Chapman, Paul, Forde, Brian M., Roberts, Leah W., Bergh, Haakon, Vesey, Debra, Jennison, Amy V., Moss, Susan, Paterson, David L., Beatson, Scott A. and Harris, Patrick N. A. (2020). Genomic investigation reveals contaminated detergent as the source of an Extended-Spectrum-β-Lactamase-producing Klebsiella michiganensis outbreak in a neonatal unit. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 58 (5) e01980. doi: 10.1128/jcm.01980-19
Roberts, Leah W., Harris, Patrick N. A., Forde, Brian M., Ben Zakour, Nouri L., Catchpoole, Elizabeth, Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Phan, Minh-Duy, Sidjabat, Hanna E., Bergh, Haakon, Heney, Claire, Gawthorne, Jayde A., Lipman, Jeffrey, Allworth, Anthony, Chan, Kok-Gan, Chong, Teik Min, Yin, Wai-Fong, Schembri, Mark A., Paterson, David L. and Beatson, Scott A. (2020). Integrating multiple genomic technologies to investigate an outbreak of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter hormaechei. Nature Communications, 11 (1) 466, 466. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-14139-5
Roberts, Leah W., Catchpoole, Elizabeth, Jennison, Amy V., Bergh, Haakon, Hume, Anna, Heney, Claire, George, Narelle, Paterson, David L., Schembri, Mark A., Beatson, Scott A. and Harris, Patrick N. A. (2019). Genomic analysis of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Queensland reveals widespread transmission of blaIMP-4 on an IncHI2 plasmid. Microbial Genomics, 6 (1) 000321. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000321
Forde, Brian M., Roberts, Leah W., Phan, Minh-Duy, Peters, Kate M., Fleming, Brittany A., Russell, Colin W., Lenherr, Sara M., Myers, Jeremy B., Barker, Adam P., Fisher, Mark A., Chong, Teik-Min, Yin, Wai-Fong, Chan, Kok-Gan, Schembri, Mark A., Mulvey, Matthew A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2019). Population dynamics of an Escherichia coli ST131 lineage during recurrent urinary tract infection. Nature Communications, 10 (1) 3643, 3643. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11571-5
Tan, Yi Jie Chelsea, Zhao, Chengzhi, Nasreen, Marufa, O'Rourke, Leo, Dhouib, Rabeb, Roberts, Leah, Wan, Ying, Beatson, Scott A. and Kappler, Ulrike (2019). Control of bacterial sulfite detoxification by conserved and species-specific regulatory circuits. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10 (MAY) 960, 960. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00960
Walker, Mark J., Brouwer, Stephan, Forde, Brian M., Worthing, Kate A., McIntyre, Liam, Sundac, Lana, Maloney, Sam, Roberts, Leah W., Barnett, Timothy C., Richter, Johanna, Cork, Amanda J., Irwin, Adam D., You, Yuanhai, Zhang, Jianzhong, Dougan, Gordon, Yuen, K. Y., Nizet, Victor, Beatson, Scott A., Grimwood, Keith and Davies, Mark R. (2019). Detection of epidemic scarlet fever group A Streptococcus in Australia. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 69 (7), 1232-1234. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz099
Forde, Brian M., Zowawi, Hosam M., Harris, Patrick N. A., Roberts, Leah, Ibrahim, Emad, Shaikh, Nissar, Deshmukh, Anand, Sid Ahmed, Mazen A., Al Maslamani, Muna, Cottrell, Kyra, Trembizki, Ella, Sundac, Lana, Yu, Heidi H., Li, Jian, Schembri, Mark A., Whiley, David M., Paterson, David L. and Beatson, Scott A. (2018). Discovery of mcr-1-mediated colistin resistance in a highly virulent Escherichia coli lineage. mSphere, 3 (5) e00486-18. doi: 10.1128/msphere.00486-18
Harris, Patrick N. A., Tambyah, Paul A., Lye, David C., Mo, Yin, Lee, Tau H., Yilmaz, Mesut, Alenazi, Thamer H., Arabi, Yaseen, Falcone, Marco, Bassetti, Matteo, Righi, Elda, Rogers, Benjamin A., Kanj, Souha, Bhally, Hasan, Iredell, Jon, Mendelson, Marc, Boyles, Tom H., Looke, David, Miyakis, Spiros, Walls, Genevieve, Al Khamis, Mohammed, Zikri, Ahmed, Crowe, Amy, Ingram, Paul, Daneman, Nick, Griffin, Paul, Athan, Eugene, Lorenc, Penelope, Baker, Peter ... MERINO Trial Investigators and the Australasian Society for Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network (ASID-CRN) (2018). Effect of piperacillin-tazobactam vs meropenem on 30-day mortality for patients with E coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infection and ceftriaxone resistance: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 320 (10), 984-994. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.12163
Harris, Patrick N. A., Ben Zakour, Nouri L., Roberts, Leah W., Wailan, Alexander M., Zowawi, Hosam M., Tambyah, Paul A., Lye, David C., Jureen, Roland, Lee, Tau H., Yin, Mo, Izharuddin, Ezlyn, Looke, David, Runnegar, Naomi, Rogers, Benjamin, Bhally, Hasan, Crowe, Amy, Schembri, Mark A., Beatson, Scott A. and Paterson, David L. (2017). Whole genome analysis of cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli from bloodstream infections in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore: high prevalence of CMY-2 producers and ST131 carrying blaCTX-M-15 and blaCTX-M-27. The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 73 (3), 634-642. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkx466
Roberts, Leah (2017). From isolate to answer: how whole genome sequencing is helping us rapidly characterise nosocomial bacterial outbreaks. Microbiology Australia, 38 (3), 127-130. doi: 10.1071/MA17047
Sarkar, Sohinee, Roberts, Leah W., Phan, Minh-Duy, Tan, Lendl, Lo, Alvin W., Peters, Kate M., Paterson, David L., Upton, Mathew, Ulett, Glen C., Beatson, Scott A., Totsika, Makrina and Schembri, Mark A. (2016). Comprehensive analysis of type 1 fimbriae regulation in fimB-null strains from the multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ST131 clone. Molecular Microbiology, 101 (6), 1069-1087. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13442
Ben Zakour, Nouri L, Alsheikh-Hussain, Areej S, Ashcroft, Melinda M, Khanh Nhu, Nguyen Thi, Roberts, Leah W, Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Schembri, Mark A and Beatson, Scott A (2016). Erratum for Ben Zakour et al., Sequential Acquisition of Virulence and Fluoroquinolone Resistance Has Shaped the Evolution of Escherichia coli ST131. mBio, 7 (3), 1-1. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00958-16
Ben Zakour, Nouri L., Alsheikh-Hussain, Areej S., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Roberts, Leah W., Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Schembri, Mark A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2016). Sequential acquisition of virulence and fluoroquinolone resistance has shaped the evolution of Escherichia coli ST131. MBio, 7 (2) e00347-16, e00347-16.1-e00347-16.11. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00347-16
Phan, Minh-Duy, Peters, Kate M., Sarkar, Sohinee, Forde, Brian M., Lo, Alvin W., Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Roberts, Leah W., Upton, Mathew, Beatson, Scott A. and Schembri, Mark A. (2015). Third-generation cephalosporin resistance conferred by a chromosomally encoded blaCMY-23 gene in the Escherichia coli ST131 reference strain EC958. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 70 (7) dkv066, 1969-1972. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkv066
Thesis
Roberts, Leah Wendy (2019). Application of whole genome sequencing to characterise clinically significant multidrug resistant bacteria. PhD Thesis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.804
Preprints
White, Rhys T., Ashcroft, Melinda A., Bauer, Michelle J., Bell, Jan, Butkiewicz, Dominika, Álvarez-Fraga, Laura, Gibson, Justine S., Kidsley, Amanda K., Mollinger, Joanne L., Peters, Kate M., Phan, Duy, Roberts, Leah W., Rogers, Benjamin, Schembri, Mark, Trott, Darren J., Turnidge, John, Forde, Brian M. and Beatson, Scott A. (2024). The complete genome sequence of five pre-2013 Escherichia coli sequence type (ST)1193 strains reveals insights into an emerging pathogen.. doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000894.v2
Ashcroft, Melinda M., Forde, Brian M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Peters, Kate M., Roberts, Leah W., Chan, Kok-Gan, Chong, Teik Min, Yin, Wai-Fong, Paterson, David L., Walsh, Timothy R., Schembri, Mark A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2020). Strain and lineage-level methylome heterogeneity in the multi-drug resistant pathogenic Escherichia coli ST101 clone. doi: 10.1101/2020.06.07.138552
Ashcroft, Melinda M., Forde, Brian M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Peters, Kate M., Henderson, Andrew, Hancock, Steven J., Roberts, Leah W., White, Rhys T., Chan, Kok-Gan, Chong, Teik Min, Yin, Wai-Fong, Paterson, David L., Walsh, Timothy R., Schembri, Mark A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2020). Genomic characterisation and context of the blaNDM-1 carbapenemase in Escherichia coli ST101. doi: 10.1101/860726