Associate Professor
Makrina Totsika
Faculty of Health,
School of Biomedical Sciences
Biography
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/
Personal details
Positions
- Principal Research Fellow
Faculty of Health,
School of Biomedical Sciences
Keywords
bacterial pathogenesis, adhesins, biofilms, virulence, urinary tract infections, intestinal infections, E. coli, Salmonella, antimicrobial resistance, antivirulence therapeutics
Research field
Medical microbiology, Microbiology, Genetics
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Edinburgh)
Professional memberships and associations
Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology (FASM), Member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Member of the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR)
Teaching
Microbiology 2nd and 3rd year units - LQB362, LQB494, LQB594 Infectious Diseases Capstone unit - LQB694 WILS, VRES, Honours, Masters, MPhil and PhD program
Experience
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'
Publications
Research outputs by year
- Verderosa, A., Dhouib, R., Fairfull-Smith, K. & Totsika, M. (2020). Nitroxide functionalized antibiotics are promising eradication agents against Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 64(1), 1–13. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/197197
- Totsika, M., Vagenas, D., Paxman, J., Wang, G., Dhouib, R., Sharma, P., Martin, J., Scanlon, M. & Heras, B. (2018). Inhibition of diverse DsbA enzymes in multi-DsbA encoding pathogens. Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 29(7), 1–14. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/223528
- Sarkar, S., Hutton, M., Vagenas, D., Ruter, R., Schuller, S., Lyras, D., Schembri, M. & Totsika, M. (2018). Intestinal colonization traits of pandemic multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli ST131. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 218(6), 979–990. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/223585
- Totsika, M., (2016). Benefits and challenges of antivirulence antimicrobials at the dawn of the post-antibiotic era. Drug Delivery Letters, 6(1), 30–37. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/93573
- Petty, N., Ben Zakour, N., Stanton-Cook, M., Skippington, E., Totsika, M., Forde, B., Phan, M., Gomes Moriel, D., Peters, K., Davies, M., Rogers, B., Dougan, G., Rodriguez-Bano, J., Pascual, A., Pitout, J., Upton, M., Paterson, D., Walsh, T., Schembri, M. & Beatson, S. (2014). Global dissemination of a multidrug resistant Escherichia coli clone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(15), 5694–5699. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77377
- Heras, B., Totsika, M., Peters, K., Paxman, J., Gee, C., Jarrott, R., Perugini, M., Whitten, A. & Schembri, M. (2014). The antigen 43 structure reveals a molecular Velcro-like mechanism of autotransporter-mediated bacterial clumping. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(1), 457–462. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77379
- Totsika, M., Kostakioti, M., Hannan, T., Upton, M., Beatson, S., Janetka, J., Hultgren, S. & Schembri, M. (2013). A FimH inhibitor prevents acute bladder infection and treats chronic cystitis caused by multidrug-resistant uropathogenic Escherichia coli ST131. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 208(6), 921–928. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77382
- Totsika, M., Wells, T., Beloin, C., Valle, J., Allsopp, L., King, N. & Ghigo, J. (2012). Molecular characterization of the EhaG and UpaG trimeric autotransporter proteins from pathogenic Escherichia coli. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78(7), 2179–2189. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77390
- Totsika, M., Beatson, S., Sarkar, S., Phan, M., Petty, N., Bachmann, N., Szubert, M., Sidjabat, H., Paterson, D., Upton, M. & Schembri, M. (2011). Insights into a multidrug resistant Escherichia coli pathogen of the globally disseminated ST131 lineage: genome analysis and virulence mechanisms. PLoS One, 6(10), 1–11. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77394
- Heras, B., Shouldice, S., Totsika, M., Scanlon, M., Schembri, M. & Martin, J. (2009). DSB proteins and bacterial pathogenicity. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 7(3), 215–225. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77411
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Makrina, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- 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)
Selected research projects
- 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
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Kathryn Fairfull-Smith - Characterising Regions of Genomic Variation in 'Critical Priority' Multidrug Resistant Bacterial Pathogens
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Johanna Kenyon, Dr Yaoqin Hong - PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Kathryn Fairfull-Smith, Dr Sandra Wiedbrauk
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Reducing Infections with Percutaneous Drivelines for Mechanical Circulatory Support Using a Tissue Engineering Inspired Approach (2020)
- Nitroxide Functionalised Antibiotics for the Eradication of Bacterial Biofilms (2019)
- Oral Microbiome: A Novel Biomarker for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancer Detection and a Potential Surveillance Tool for Post-treatment Monitoring (2019)
- Characterisation of flagella and resistance to oxidative stress in Escherichia coli ST131 virulence (2017)
- Uropathogenic Escherichia coli: Towards a Better Understanding through the Characterisation of a Vaccine Antigen and Virulence Factor (2016)
- Evolutionary Phylogeny and Molecular Characterisation of Chaperone-Usher Fimbriae from Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (2014)
- Identification and Characterisation of New Adhesins in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (2011)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
- Variation of surface polysaccharides in the ST25 clonal lineage of Acinetobacter baumannii (2021)
- Investigating the Role of DsbA Enzymes in Growth and Virulence of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (2018)
- Autotransporter proteins of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli: regulation, characterisation and the role of periplasmic proteins in their expression (2016)
Supervision topics
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.