Dr Melinda Ashcroft is a Research Fellow on Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Climate Change) in the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Queensland (UQ). Her current research focus is on Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and how NTM infections are associated with climate change and major weather events. Previously Melinda has worked at Monash University as a Research Fellow on the Sero-epidemiology of Klebsiella spp., at the University of Melbourne as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Genomic Epidemiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and as a Research Associate at UQ on the genomics and epigenomics of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. Melinda was awarded a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biotechnology/Biochemistry) in 2004 from Queensland University of Technology and a Master of Biotechnology in 2013 from UQ. She then switched fields to Microbial Genomics and was awarded a PhD from UQ in 2019 for her thesis: Evolution and function of mobile genetic elements and DNA methyltransferases in extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli.
Journal Article: Genomic epidemiology reveals geographical clustering of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli ST131 associated with bacteraemia in Wales
White, Rhys T., Bull, Matthew J., Barker, Clare R., Arnott, Julie M., Wootton, Mandy, Jones, Lim S., Howe, Robin A., Morgan, Mari, Ashcroft, Melinda M., Forde, Brian M., Connor, Thomas R. and Beatson, Scott A. (2024). Genomic epidemiology reveals geographical clustering of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli ST131 associated with bacteraemia in Wales. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 1371, 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45608-1
Journal Article: Reflex detection of ciprofloxacin resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae by use of the SpeeDx ResistancePlus GC assay
Lee, Darren Y.J., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Chow, Eric P.F., Sait, Michelle, De Petra, Vesna, Tschaepe, Marlene, Lange, Sigrid, Taiaroa, George, Bradshaw, Catriona S., Whiley, David M., Fairley, Christopher K., Howden, Benjamin P., Chen, Marcus Y., Pasricha, Shivani and Williamson, Deborah A. (2021). Reflex detection of ciprofloxacin resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae by use of the SpeeDx ResistancePlus GC assay. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 59 (5) e00089-21. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00089-21
Journal Article: Incidence and duration of incident oropharyngeal gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections among men who have sex with men: prospective cohort study
Chow, Eric P F, Vodstrcil, Lenka A, Williamson, Deborah A, Maddaford, Kate, Hocking, Jane S, Ashcroft, Melinda, De Petra, Vesna, Bradshaw, Catriona S and Fairley, Christopher K (2020). Incidence and duration of incident oropharyngeal gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections among men who have sex with men: prospective cohort study. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 97 (6), 452-457. doi: 10.1136/sextrans-2020-054764
White, Rhys T., Bull, Matthew J., Barker, Clare R., Arnott, Julie M., Wootton, Mandy, Jones, Lim S., Howe, Robin A., Morgan, Mari, Ashcroft, Melinda M., Forde, Brian M., Connor, Thomas R. and Beatson, Scott A. (2024). Genomic epidemiology reveals geographical clustering of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli ST131 associated with bacteraemia in Wales. Nature Communications, 15 (1) 1371, 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45608-1
Lee, Darren Y.J., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Chow, Eric P.F., Sait, Michelle, De Petra, Vesna, Tschaepe, Marlene, Lange, Sigrid, Taiaroa, George, Bradshaw, Catriona S., Whiley, David M., Fairley, Christopher K., Howden, Benjamin P., Chen, Marcus Y., Pasricha, Shivani and Williamson, Deborah A. (2021). Reflex detection of ciprofloxacin resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae by use of the SpeeDx ResistancePlus GC assay. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 59 (5) e00089-21. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00089-21
Chow, Eric P F, Vodstrcil, Lenka A, Williamson, Deborah A, Maddaford, Kate, Hocking, Jane S, Ashcroft, Melinda, De Petra, Vesna, Bradshaw, Catriona S and Fairley, Christopher K (2020). Incidence and duration of incident oropharyngeal gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections among men who have sex with men: prospective cohort study. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 97 (6), 452-457. doi: 10.1136/sextrans-2020-054764
Targeted surveillance strategies for efficient detection of novel antibiotic resistance variants
Hicks, Allison L., Kissler, Stephen M., Mortimer, Tatum D., Ma, Kevin C., Taiaroa, George, Ashcroft, Melinda, Williamson, Deborah A., Lipsitch, Marc and Grad, Yonatan H. (2020). Targeted surveillance strategies for efficient detection of novel antibiotic resistance variants. eLife, 9 e56367. doi: 10.7554/eLife.56367
Chhabra, Yash, Yong, Hilary X. L., Fane, Mitchell E., Soogrim, Arish, Lim, Wen, Mahiuddin, Dayana Nur, Kim, Reuben S. Q., Ashcroft, Melinda, Beatson, Scott A., Ainger, Stephen A., Smit, Darren J., Jagirdar, Kasturee, Walker, Graeme J., Sturm, Richard A. and Smith, Aaron G. (2018). Genetic variation in IRF4 expression modulates growth characteristics, tyrosinase expression and interferon-gamma response in melanocytic cells. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, 31 (1), 51-63. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12620
Ben Zakour, Nouri L, Alsheikh-Hussain, Areej S, Ashcroft, Melinda M, Khanh Nhu, Nguyen Thi, Roberts, Leah W, Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Schembri, Mark A and Beatson, Scott A (2016). Erratum for Ben Zakour et al., Sequential Acquisition of Virulence and Fluoroquinolone Resistance Has Shaped the Evolution of Escherichia coli ST131. mBio, 7 (3), 1-1. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00958-16
Ben Zakour, Nouri L., Alsheikh-Hussain, Areej S., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Roberts, Leah W., Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Schembri, Mark A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2016). Sequential acquisition of virulence and fluoroquinolone resistance has shaped the evolution of Escherichia coli ST131. MBio, 7 (2) e00347-16, e00347-16.1-e00347-16.11. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00347-16
Forde, Brian M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Gawthorne, Jayde A., Ashcroft, Melinda M., Stanton-Cook, Mitchell, Sarkar, Sohinee, Peters, Kate M., Chan, Kok-Gan, Chong, Teik Min, Yin, Wai-Fong, Upton, Mathew, Schembri, Mark A. and Beatson, Scott A. (2015). Lineage-specific methyltransferases define the methylome of the globally disseminated Escherichia coli ST131 clone. MBio, 6 (6) e01602-15, e01602-15. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01602-15
Ashcroft, M. M., Chow, E. P. F., Lee, D. Y. J., Taiaroa, G., Howden, B. P., Fairley, C. K. and Williamson, D. A. (2020). GENOMIC ASSESSMENT OF WITHIN-HOST POPULATION VARIATION IN NEISSERIA GONORRHOEAE: IMPLICATIONS FOR GONORRHOEA TRANSMISSION. CLAYTON: CSIRO PUBLISHING.
Chow, E. P. F., Vodstrcil, L. A., Williamson, D. A., Maddaford, K., Hocking, J. S., Ashcroft, M. M., De Petra, , Bradshaw, C. S. and Fairley, C. K. (2020). INCIDENCE AND DURATION OF INCIDENT OROPHARYNGEAL GONORRHOEA AND CHLAMYDIA INFECTIONS AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY. CLAYTON: CSIRO PUBLISHING.
Ashcroft, Melinda (2019). Evolution and function of mobile genetic elements and DNA methyltransferases in extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. PhD Thesis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.128