Matthew McNeil

Antibiotics have revolutionised the treatment of infectious diseases. However, antibiotic resistance threatens the long-term use of these essential medicines. Since Indigenous communities, both in Aotearoa and globally, experience disproportionate rates of infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance has the potential to exacerbate health inequities.

Dr Matthew McNeil has been awarded a Mana Tūānuku Research Leader Fellowship to use the infectious bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a model to investigate how and why specific antibiotic-resistance genes emerge, and spread. By advancing our fundamental understanding of bacterial physiology and evolution, this research will support the development of novel drugs and help us to predict and prevent the evolution of antibiotic resistance. The research supports better health outcomes for New Zealand by investing in capability to understand and address antibiotic resistance.

Dr Matthew McNeil is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka – the University of Otago, and part of the infectious disease leadership team at the Maurice Wilkins Centre of Research Excellence. After a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Otago, Matthew completed postdoctoral research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France and the Infectious Disease Research Institute in the United States of America before returning to Otago. Matthew’s previous work has earned a Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and an Early Career Award for Distinction in Research from the University of Otago.

Dr Matthew McNeil in the laboratory (photo supplied)