Speakers
Plenary Session
Biocides are used at massive scale across healthcare, households and industry, yet their effects on microbial behaviour and resistance remain poorly understood. In this keynote, Dr Francesca Short examines how disinfectants and other antimicrobial compounds influence stress responses, virulence regulation and resistance patterns in Gram-negative pathogens. Drawing on recent high-throughput genomics and mechanistic studies, she explores the potential for biocides to interact with antibiotic resistance and contribute to AMR risk outside the clinic. The talk also considers the policy implications of widespread biocide use and highlights the need for more joined-up approaches to antimicrobial risk management across sectors.
Francesca Short is an ARC DECRA Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at Monash University and a Visiting Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Macquarie University. After completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge, she held a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Wellcome Sanger Institute before relocating to Australia. Her work bridges molecular microbiology, functional genomics, and systems biology to understand how Gram-negative bacterial pathogens regulate virulence, resist antibiotics, and survive in diverse environments.
A key focus of her research is on antimicrobial biocides, including disinfectants, sanitisers and preservatives, and their underexplored role in influencing resistance and stress responses outside the clinic. Her recent publications examine the mechanisms of action of biocides, their potential to antagonise antibiotics, and their widespread use in direct-to-consumer products. Through her leadership in the Monash Centre to Impact AMR, she also contributes to national discussions on antimicrobial policy and surveillance, advocating for evidence-based approaches to microbial risk management across health and environmental sectors.