Peter Timms is an Australian koala conservationist. He is best known for his scientific contributions relating to infectious disease threats to koalas such as

chlamydia Chlamydia, or more specifically a chlamydia infection, is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Chlamydia trachomatis''. Most people who are infected have no symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they may occur only several w ...

and

koala retrovirus Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a retrovirus that is present in many populations of koalas. It has been implicated as the agent of koala immune deficiency syndrome (KIDS), an HIV/AIDS, AIDS-like immunodeficiency that leaves infected koalas more susce ...

. After attending

Wavell State High School Wavell State High School is a coeducational public secondary school based in Wavell Heights, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1500 students from years 7–12, with an official count of 1674 ...

, Timms studied at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

where he graduated with a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

molecular microbiology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. Though cells and other microsco ...

in 1989. He has published over 240 papers, reviews and chapters in scientific journals such as ''

Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studies ...

'', ''

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of S ...

'', ''

Scientific Reports ''Scientific Reports'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely ...

'' and the ''

Journal of Virology The ''Journal of Virology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research concerning all aspects of virology. It was established in 1967 and is published by the American Society for Microbiology. Research papers are available ...

''. Timms was featured on a ''

Catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

'' episode in 2021, called "Are We Killing Our Koalas", hosted by

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities tha ...

. Timms is currently a professor of microbiology at the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC; formerly abbreviated as USC until 2022) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it ...

and the deputy director of the university's GeneCology Research Centre. Prior to joining the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2014, he was a professor at the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

. In 2022, Timms was named as a Queensland Great.

References

Queensland Greats Australian conservationists University of Queensland alumni Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology Academic staff of the University of the Sunshine Coast Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People educated at Wavell State High School Australian microbiologists {{environmentalist-stub