Associate Professor Makrina Totsika is a Principal Research Fellow and Program Leader for Infection Control at the Centre for Immunology and Infection Control, Queensland University of Technology. Originally from Greece, Makrina completed a Wellcome Trust funded PhD in bacterial genetics at the University of Edinburgh before moving to Australia in 2007. She has held an ARC DECRA and has received funding from the ARC, NHMRC and various philanthropic foundations. Her research is at the forefront of novel anti-virulence therapies, which are promising to replace, restore and reserve antibiotics for future generations. Makrina is a frequent science communicator and was named QLD’s Young Tall Poppy of the Year in 2016. She won the QLD Senior Researcher Award by the Australian Society for Medical Research in 2016 and was honoured with the prestigious Frank Fenner award in 2018 by the Australian Society for Microbiology of which she is an elected Fellow. Makrina was one of six women to receive the Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Science in 2020, recognising her leadership in research and excellence for inclusivity.