August Mikucki
Research Officer
BBioMedSci, PhD
august.mikucki@thekids.org.au
Dr August Mikucki is a postdoctoral researcher working to understand how bacterial pathogens of the upper respiratory tract evolve to interact with the microenvironment inside their hosts 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 focussed 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, vaccines, and diagnostics.
Education and Qualifications
- PhD – University of Western Australia
- Bachelor of Biomedical Science with First Class Honours – University of Western Australia
Awards/Honours
- BrightSpark Early Career Child Health Research Fellowship, 2025-2027
- Best ECR Poster, Australian Society for Microbiology National Conference, 2024
- ASM WA Travel Award, Australian Society for Microbiology, 2022
- Richard Thomas Bonfield Green Memorial Scholarship in Microbiology, University of Western Australia, 2018
Active Collaborations
- Mark Davies – The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne
- Mark Nicol – University of Western Australia, Perth
- Charlene Kahler – University of Western Australia, Perth