Julian I. Rood is a Reader in Microbiology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is a Fellow of both the Australian Society for Microbiology and the American Academy of Microbiology. His research career has focused on the development of the genetics of Clostridium perfringens, the use of molecular genetics to study the regulation of toxin production and the pathogenesis of clostridial myonecroses, and the genetic analysis of clostridial antibiotic resistance determinants.