Dr Verlaine Timms is a senior researcher with an interest microbial communities and antimicrobial resistance. Her research helps to improve the management of both useful bacteria and those that are pathogenic to humans. She is 10 years post-PhD and prior to moving to the University of Newcastle, she worked on pathogens with epidemic potential with NSW Health. She has used genomics to investigate antibiotic resistance and virulence evolution of multiple infectious disease outbreaks including Legionnaire's disease, pertussis, diphtheriae and VRE. Using cutting edge technologies such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and her expertise in “One Health”, Verlaine now investigates the prevalence and impact of antimicrobial resistance in our environment.