Martina Jelocnik

Lecturer in Microbiology, School of Science, Technology and Engineering

Veterinary microbiology

Molecular microbiology and epidemiology

Development of molecular diagnostic tests

Molecular epidemiology and comparative genomics of chlamydial species infecting human, livestock and wildlife hosts

Investigating zoonotic potential of chlamydiae

About

Biography

Dr Martina Jelocnik is a Lecturer in Microbiology at UniSC and member of the Centre for Bioinnovation. She leads the “Molecular Chlamydia” research team that investigates key questions in the molecular epidemiology, zoonotic potential, control and diagnosis of veterinary chlamydia. Martina’s research is focused on fine-detailed molecular epidemiology of chlamydial infections in Australian livestock as well as wildlife, employing novel molecular approaches. Recently, Martina has been at the forefront of the emerging chlamydia infections in horses and applying innovative “One Health approach” to dissect these infections, whilst showcasing outstanding collaborative skills. She also works on the development of rapid isothermal assays that can be deployed at the Point-of-Care for detection of chlamydia.

In 2019, Dr Jelocnik was awarded several grants and fellowships, including a highly competitive ARC DECRA Fellowship, with research to focus on epidemiology of chlamydial infections in birds and horses, and development of innovative diagnostic methods; and two Agrifutures Australia grants to expand her research on emerging equine chlamydial infections and development of rapid diagnostics, for not just chlamydia, but other horse pathogens.

As someone who is rapidly establishing herself as one of the Australia’s leading experts on animal chlamydiosis, Martina has a range of active collaborations with national and international research groups, government and industry organisations.

Martina is also an avid mentor, USC STEM outreach programs volunteer scientist, enthusiastic Microbiology educator and science communicator.

Awards

2023 Jirro Kikkawa Award, Best research project, Birds Queensland
2022 UniSC Vice-Chancellor and President's Awards for Excellence, Research Impact (ECR)
Presentation Award, European Meeting on Animal Chlamydioses, Croatia
2017 Fresh Science Competition: Queensland Finalist
2017 USC Early Career Researcher Award: Weighted citations over the past 5 years