Associate Professor Makrina Totsika

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PI, QUT

PhD (University of Edinburgh)

Dr Makrina Totsika is a Principal Research Fellow at QUT. She leads the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Therapeutics Research group and is the Program Leader for Infection Control at QUT's Centre for Immunology and Infection Control (CIIC).

Originally from Volos, Greece, Makrina moved to Scotland in 1998 to study at the University of Edinburgh, where she graduated with a First Class BSc(Hons) in Biological Sciences-Genetics (2002), a MSc by Reseach in Life Sciences with Distinction (2003) and a PhD in Bacterial Genetics (2007). Makrina was the recipient of a prestigious Wellcome Trust 4-Year PhD studentship for her research project on virulence gene regulation in pathogenic bacteria that she conducted at the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, University of Edinburgh.

Makrina immigrated to Australia in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Queensland. In May 2014, she joined QUT as an ARC DECRA fellow and in 2016 was awarded a QUT Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellowship. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 and in the same year received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research,  Partnerships and Engagement.

Makrina has authored over 100 scientific articles, reviews and editorials and has been awarded >$12 M in research grants and fellowships from the ARC, NHMRC and philanthropic foundations. Her work is at the forefront of antimicrobial drug research and development, including novel non-antibiotic therapeutics that are promising to revolutionise the way we treat bacterial infections that are no longer treatable with antibiotics.

Makrina is a frequent science communicator and winner of the 2016 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year award by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS). In 2016 she was the recipient of a Senior Researcher Queensland Health and Medical Research Award by the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR).

She is an elected Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology that honoured her in 2018 with the award of the Frank Fenner Award for distinguished contributions to Australian research in Microbiology. In 2020, she was one of six scientists nationally to receive the Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences, with special recognition for Inclusivity.

Lab website: https://research.qut.edu.au/ciic/projects/bacterial-pathogenesis-research/

Additional information

Real World Engagement

2017-2019 Flying Scientist, 'Engaging Rural Queenslanders in Science', Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist and Wonder of Science Program

2019 Wonder of Science Program, QLD State Conference - Brisbane, 'Speed Meet the Scientist’ 

2018 Regional World Science Festival - Toowoomba, ‘BUGS & DRUGS: The Resistance Wars

2017 Regional World Science Festival - Chinchilla, ‘Amazing Microbes’

2015 - current, Research Supervisor, QUT STEM for High Schools Research Internships Program

2014 National Science Week, QUT Public Lecture,  'When antibiotics stop working, the bugs fight back'

2012 QLD Finalist, Fresh Science Competition, 'Meet the next deadly E. coli  superbug'

Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2020
Details
Georgina Sweet Women in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences Award, including Excellence in Inclusivity
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2018
Details
Frank Fenner Award
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2016
Details
Winner of the Senior Researcher Category Health and Medical Research Award
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2016
Details
Queensland Young Tall Poppy of the Year, Young Tall Poppy Science Awards
Type
Recipient of an Australia Council Grant or Australia Council Fellowship
Reference year
2013
Details
ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
Title
Eradicating Bacterial Biofilms with Nitroxide-Antimicrobial Hybrids
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DP210101317
Start year
2021
Keywords
DP210101317
Title
Molecular Mechanisms of Novel Bacterial Copper Defense Proteins
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DP190101613
Start year
2019
Keywords
Title
DsbA Foldases from Multidrug Resistant Pathogens as Targets for New Antimicrobials
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1144046
Start year
2018
Keywords
Infection; Virulence; Enzyme Inhibitors; Enzyme Activity; Antimicrobial Therapy
Title
DsbA Inhibitors: From Hits to Leads
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1099151
Start year
2016
Keywords
Title
The current multidrug resistant Escherichia coli pandemic: exploring novel therapies against the predominant culprit E. coli ST131.
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1069370
Start year
2014
Keywords
Escherichia Coli; Adhesins; Virulence; Urinary Tract Infection (UTI); Multidrug Resistance; Fimbriae; Infectious Diseases
Title
Understanding how bacteria become sticky
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DE130101169
Start year
2013
Keywords
Bacterial Adhesins; Disulfide Bond Proteins; Periplasmic Chaperones