Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles heads up the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab. at the University of Auckland. She studied medical microbiology at the University of Edinburgh and then did a PhD in microbiology at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxford. Siouxsie spent almost a decade at Imperial College, London, where her research won the inaugural UK award for the humane use of animals in scientific research. 

In 2009, Siouxsie was awarded a Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and relocated to the University of Auckland. At the Bioluminscent Superbugs Lab she combines her twin passions to understand infectious diseases and to find new antibiotics. 

Siouxsie also has a keen interest in demystifying science for the public; she is a tweeter, blogger, podcaster and media science commentator, and has worked with artists to make living works of art for various exhibitions in Aotearoa and overseas. In 2017 she published her first book, ‘Antibiotic resistance: the end of modern medicine? ’, and recently collaborated with her daughter to make a kid’s show about microbiology.

Siouxsie has won numerous awards for her science communication efforts. In 2019 she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to microbiology and science communication.