Wilhelmina M. Huston

Dr Wilhelmina (Willa) Huston Associate Professor and Research Group Leader Chlamydia Research Group School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Willa Huston is an Associate Professor, Associate Head of School for Teaching and Learning, and research group leader at the School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney. Her research is focussed on molecular microbiology of the human intracellular pathogen Chlamydia, particularly how proteases function in the organism’s pathogenesis. Her team is funded by NHMRC and ARC Linkage funding and most recently they have uncovered an essential role for the protease HtrA in the replicative phase of chlamydial development. This was the first successful application of chemical inhibition to demonstrate an essential chlamydial protease. Prior to her current role she held an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship, and IHBI and QUT Faculty of Science Fellowships as a research intensive fellow. She came to QUT from a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the UK at The University of York examining cytochromes in bacteria. Her PhD was at The University of Queensland (conferred 2004) as a joint student within the labs of Professor Al McEwan and Mike Jennings where together they uncovered a role for multicopper oxidases in bacterial pathogenesis.