İpek Kurtböke
Ipek Kurtböke University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia Dr. Kurtböke has been in the field of Biodiscovery associated with bioactive actinomycetes since 1982. Her most significant contribution has been a novel isolation technique that selectively cultures industrially important rare actinomycetes using bacteriophages. Her expertise in microbial culture collections and their sustainable use for biotechnology links her to World Federation for Culture Collections where she is currently the Vice-President. She has also worked with bacteriophages since 1986 with particular reference to their use as tools in drug discovery. Since joining the USC in 2001, she has developed undergraduate and post-graduate programs in applied microbiology and biotechnology, and continued research in environmental, biomedical, agricultural and food microbiology where she uses bacteriophages extensively with links to eminent pharmaceutical and agrobiological companies. Dr. Kurtböke is also the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, which is a new InTech Open Access scientific journal http://www.intechopen.com/journals/show/international_journal_of_microbiology_and_microbial_biotechnology/journal.