Megan Outram

Megan Outram is a Researcher in the Division of Biomedical Science & Biochemistry at Australian National University. Her research focuses on structural and molecular aspects of plant-pathogen interactions, particularly fungal effectors and their roles in infection mechanisms. She holds a PhD in Structural Biology from the University of Queensland (2019) and prior degrees from Lincoln University (BSc Honours in Molecular Plant Pathology and BSc in Biochemistry/Biotechnology).

Key research areas include:

• Effector protein structural analysis in Fusarium and rust fungi
• Mechanisms of effector-mediated plant immunity evasion
• Zinc-binding proteins in pathogen virulence
• Chytrid fungus virulence factors impacting amphibians

Her work combines X-ray crystallography, bioinformatics, and experimental biology to study protein function in pathogenic systems. Current projects include AI-driven discovery of virulence factors and structural studies of cyanobacterial carbonic anhydrase regulation.