Dr August Mikucki is a postdoctoral researcher working to understand how the evolution and ecology of upper respiratory bacterial pathogens contribute to their ability to cause disease. Her PhD investigated the evolution of a hypervirulent outbreak of meningococcal disease in Western Australia and she has since joined The Kids Research Institute as part of the Strep A Pathogenesis team. In 2025 she was awarded a BrightSpark Early Career Child Health Research Fellowship to investigate how interactions between bacteria in the throat may be exploited to prevent Strep A infections. More broadly, her researched is focused on using a combination of cutting-edge microbiology and bioinformatics techniques to understand the biology of Strep A transmission and colonisation to help inform development of new treatments, surveillance methods, and diagnostics.