Melinda Ashcroft

Melinda completed a Masters of Biotechnology (commendation for academic excellence) in 2013 and was awarded her PhD from the University of Queensland in early 2019 investigating the roles of mobile genetic elements, antimicrobial resistance and DNA methylation in the evolution of Escherichia coli lineages. Melinda has presented at numerous local and national conferences, receiving the Australian Society of Antimicrobials Best Poster Award (2020), the Australian Society of Microbiology Student Travel Award (2017) and the Bacterial Pathogenesis (BacPath) Conference Best Student Poster Presentation Award (2017). In late 2019 Melinda moved to the Williamson Group, working on the genomic epidemiology of pathogenic Neisseria species in Australia. Melinda’s primary research focus is on transmission dynamics, phylogenetic reconstructions and defining the key genomic and epidemiological characteristics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae lineages.