Dr. Dillon received a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Queen's University. She is also an Associate of the Royal Conservatory Toronto (A.R.C.T.). Dr. Dillon has worked for Health and Welfare Canada as Chief of the Antimicrobials and Molecular Biology Division, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control (1975-1989). She was the founding Chief of the National Laboratory for Sexually Transmitted Diseases with Health Canada (1989-1994). She was also Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa (1994-2000), and from 2001 until her appointment at University of Saskatchewan as Dean of Arts and Science, Dillon served as inaugural Director of the Centre for Research in Biopharmaceuticals and Biotechnology at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include public health of STDs, antimicrobial resistance, molecular epidemiology and bacterial cell division mechanisms.

Our laboratory researches issues pertaining to antimicrobial resistance or, long term, the identification of novel targets for the development of new antibacterial drugs. In particular, our work has focused on antimicrobial resistance surveillance, molecular epidemiology, natural products and resistance mechanisms, particularly with the sexually transmitted pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but also entailing research with other microorganisms. This work has been local, national and international in scope. We are also researching how round bacterial cells divide using N. gonorrhoeae and Enterococcus faecalis as model organisms. Our work has identified the genes implicated in cell division in these organisms as well as some of the protein-protein interactions and protein domains required for these events to take place. Currently, we are also exploring the implications of cell division mutations for pathogenicity and the regulation of cell division gene expression.

Muhammad I, Golparian D, Dillon JA, Johansson A, Ohnishi M, Sethi S, Chen SC, Nakayama S, Sundqvist M, Bala M, Unemo M. Characterisation of blaTEM genes and types of β-lactamase plasmids in Neisseria gonorrhoeae - the prevalent and conserved blaTEM-135 has not recently evolved and existed in the Toronto plasmid from the origin. BMC Infect Dis. 2014 Aug 22;14:454. Thakur SD, Starnino S, Horsman GB, Levett PN, Dillon JR. Unique combined penA/mtrR/porB mutations and NG-MAST strain types associated with ceftriaxone and cefixime MIC increases in a 'susceptible' Neisseria gonorrhoeae population. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2014 Jun;69(6):1510-6. Vidovic S, Caron C, Taheri A, Thakur SD, Read TD, Kusalik A, Dillon JA. Using crude whole-genome assemblies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a platform for strain analysis: clonal spread of gonorrhea infection in Saskatchewan, Canada. J Clin Microbiol. 2014 Oct;52(10):3772-6. Unemo M, Dillon JA. Mitigating the emergence and spread of multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant gonorrhea: is there sufficient support in resource-poor settings in Africa? Sex Transm Dis. 2014 Apr;41(4):238-9. Trecker MA, Waldner C, Jolly A, Liao M, Gu W, Dillon JA. Behavioral and socioeconomic risk factors associated with probable resistance to ceftriaxone and resistance to penicillin and tetracycline in Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Shanghai. PLoS One. 2014 Feb 19;9(2). Thakur SD, Levett PN, Horsman GB, Dillon JA. Molecular epidemiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from Saskatchewan, Canada: utility of NG-MAST in predicting antimicrobial susceptibility regionally. Sex Transm Infect. 2014 Jun;90(4):297-302. Parti RP, Horbay MA, Liao M, Dillon JA. Regulation of minD by oxyR in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Res Microbiol. 2013;164(5):406-15. Dillon JA, Trecker MA, Thakur SD; Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program Network in Latin America and Caribbean 1990-2011. Two decades of the gonococcal antimicrobial surveillance program in South America and the Caribbean: challenges and opportunities. Sex Transm Infect. 2013 Dec;89 Suppl 4:iv36-41. Vidovic S, Thakur SD, Horsman GB, Levett PN, Anvari V, Dillon JA. Longitudinal analysis of the evolution and dissemination of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains (Saskatchewan, Canada, 2005 to 2008) reveals three major circulating strains and convergent evolution of ciprofloxacin and azithromycin resistance. J Clin Microbiol. 2012;50(12):3823-30. Starnino S, Galarza P, Carvallo ME, Benzaken AS, Ballesteros AM, Cruz OM, Hernandez AL, Carbajal JL, Borthagaray G, Payares D, Dillon JA, Group GASP-LACW. Retrospective analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility trends (2000-2009) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean shows evolving resistance to ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone. Sex Transm Dis. 2012;39(10):813-21. J.R. Dillon and R.P. Parti. 2012. Fluoroquinolone resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Fitness cost or benefit? J Infect Dis. 2012 Jun 15;205(12):1775-7. Vidovic S, Horsman GB, Liao M, Dillon JA. Influence of conserved and hypervariable genetic markers on genotyping circulating strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e28259. Havaei SA, Vidovic S, Tahmineh N, Mohammad K, Mohsen K, Starnino S, Dillon JA. Epidemic methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus lineages are the major cause of infections at an Iranian university hospital. J Clin Microbiol. 2011 Nov;49(11):3990-3. Dillon JA. Sustainable antimicrobial surveillance programs essential for controlling Neisseria gonorrhoeae superbug. Sex Transm Dis. 2011 Oct;38(10):899-901. Parti RP, Biswas D, Wang M, Liao M, Dillon JA. A MinD mutant of enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 has reduced adherence to human epithelial cells. Microb Pathog. 2011 Nov;51(5):378-83. Unemo M, Dillon JA. Review and recommendation of methods for typing Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates and their implications for improved knowledge of gonococcal epidemiology, treatment and biology. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2011 Jul;24(3):447-58. Parti RP, Biswas D, Helgeson S, Michael FS, Cox A, Dillon JA. Attenuated virulence of min operon mutants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and their interactions with human urethral epithelial cells. Microbes Infect. 2011 Jun;13(6):545-54. Liao M, Gu WM, Yang Y, Dillon JA. Analysis of mutations in multiple loci of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates reveals effects of PIB, PBP2 and MtrR on reduced susceptibility to ceftriaxone. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2011 May;66(5):1016-23. Cybulska P, Thakur SD, Foster BC, Scott IM, Leduc RI, Arnason JT, Dillon JA. Extracts of Canadian first nations medicinal plants, used as natural products, inhibit Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates with different antibiotic resistance profiles. Sex Transm Dis. 2011 Jul;38(7):667-71.