Dr Alexandra Tikhomirova is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Adelaide, investigating carbohydrate metabolism in Streptococcus pneumoniae. She received her PhD from the University of Adelaide in 2016 and was offered a postdoctoral research associate position in Monash University in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded a Research Training Fellowship from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation. Her Research Training Fellowship has investigated the inter-species interactions between bacteria relevant to otitis media: Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, as well as the adaptation of Streptococcus pneumoniae to the middle ear during otitis media.