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Dr Melinda Ashcroft is a Research Fellow on Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Climate Change) in the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Queensland (UQ). Her current research focus is on Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and how NTM infections are associated with climate change and major weather events. Previously Melinda has worked at Monash University as a Research Fellow on the Sero-epidemiology of Klebsiella spp., at the University of Melbourne as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Genomic Epidemiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and as a Research Associate at UQ on the genomics and epigenomics of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. Melinda was awarded a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biotechnology/Biochemistry) in 2004 from Queensland University of Technology and a Master of Biotechnology in 2013 from UQ. She then switched fields to Microbial Genomics and was awarded a PhD from UQ in 2019 for her thesis: Evolution and function of mobile genetic elements and DNA methyltransferases in extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli.

Scott Beatson is an Associate Professor and NHMRC Career Development Fellow at The University of Queensland (UQ). He specializes in bacterial pathogenomics: using whole-genome sequencing to investigate transmission, pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Recent work from his group includes genomic analyses of pandrug resistant enterobacteriaceae and the multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ST131 pandemic clone. He was awarded a PhD from UQ for his work in bacterial pathogenesis in 2002 and developed his career in bacterial genomics in the United Kingdom with the support of fellowships from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (University of Oxford) and the UK Medical Research Council (University of Birmingham). Since returning to Australia he has held fellowships from both the NHMRC and ARC and has led a successful research group in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at UQ since 2008. He is also a member of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre and the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics. In 2016 he received the Frank Fenner Award from the Australian Society for Microbiology in recognition of his contribution to microbiology research in Australia.

Dr. Bialasiewicz worked at the Royal Children's Hospital and the Children's Health Queensland HHS for over 18 years conducting translational research and clinical support centering on infectious disease (primarily viral and bacterial) molecular diagnostics, general microbiology and molecular epidemiology. In 2019, he became a group leader at The University of Queensland's Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, expanding on a growing interest in the microbial ecology of the human body, it's role in health and disease, and ways to manipulated to achieve desirable outcomes. One Health microbial ecology, where human health is interconnected with the health of animals (both livestock and wildlife), and the broader environment is also an area of active interest. His background in virology has influenced the work he does, meaning a key focus of his microbial ecology works centres around the interactions between all types of microorgansims (bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, and micro-eukaryotes).

Ongoing work includes:

- Leveraging of emerging technologies to explore the hidden microbial diversity and their interactions in the human body.

- Using the technology to develop microbial (e.g. phage)-based treatments or preventatives to complex diseases (e.g. Otitis Media, Chronic Rhinosinusitis, GvHD).

- Understanding the genetics of antibiotic resistance spread.

Professor Antje Blumenthal combines her expertise in immunology and microbiology to lead research on molecular mechanisms that control immune responses to infection, alongside more recently developed research on new antimicrobials. The overall goal of her research is to improve our ability to treat severe bacterial infections as part of the global efforts to overcome the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Prof Blumenthal graduated with a major in Microbiology from the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, pursued PhD research in Immunology at the Leibniz Research Center for Medicine and Biosciences Borstel, Germany, and undertook postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA. She joined The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in 2010 where she leads the Infection & Inflammation Group, fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations with immunologists, microbiologists, chemists, clinical research teams and industry partners. Her research is enabled by major funding from international and national agencies, and has been recognised internationally and nationally by prestigious awards, speaking invitations at eminent conferences and institutions, invitations to peer-review for esteemed journals and funding agencies. Prof Blumenthal is an enthusiastic undergraduate teacher and research student advisor. She is proactive in advancing the careers of junior scientists, leads the development and implementation of initiatives that promote equity, diversity and inclusion in science, and a positive workplace culture. Through leadership roles within the University and professional societies as well as editorial roles for international journals, Prof Blumenthal actively contributes to the scientific community.

Researching venom peptides and ion channel pharmacology to develop next-generation therapeutics for neurological disorders

Dr Fernanda Cardoso is a Brazil-born Australian dual-citizen researcher interested in venom peptide-based biodiscovery and therapeutics development. Cardoso was awarded an MSc in Molecular Pharmacology and a PhD with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Immunology and is part of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where she develops novel therapies for complex neurological diseases. Cardoso has interdisciplinary training in the fields of neuropharmacology, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and a strong background in drug discovery, which provides the skills to identify naturally occurring or synthetic bioactive molecules and to study their effects in human physiology with applications in neurologic disorders such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and motor neuron disease (MND). Please see Dr Cardoso’s Grants and Publications list for more details.

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dr Cardoso was part of the Queensland Institute for Medical Research, holding a prestigious CAPES Postdoctoral Fellowship. During this period, Cardoso developed unique high-throughput screen platforms for discovering protein and peptide targets of novel therapies to combat infectious diseases and novel helminth-derived bioactives with anti-inflammatory properties. Please see Dr Cardoso’s Publications list for more details.

Dr Cardoso manages several industry and academic projects studying ion channel modulators derived from natural repertoires, particularly venoms, and developing novel, effective drugs to treat neurological disorders.

She is also a Board Member and Treasurer of the prestigious and long-standing International Society on Toxinology (https://toxinology.org/office-bearers/), and serves in the Editorial Board of Toxicon, ToxiconX, and Marine Drugs.

Keith is Molecular Virologist and group leader with a dual appointment within the Australian Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Institute and the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. His research is focused on vaccine development and the understanding of medically and environmentally significant viruses. Keith is one of the inventors of a UQ’s molecular clamp platform and is the co-leader of a program to produce a vaccine for COVID-19 at UQ. Keith has played a leading role in designing and implementing an epidemic response vaccine pipeline which enabled the progression of UQ’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate from sequence information to clinical trial dosing within 6 months.

Keith completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2007 on the structure and function of flavivirus NS3 protease. Subsequently, he spent three years (2007-2010) as a post-doctoral researcher at one of Spain’s most respected research institutes, Instituto Salud Carlos III, where I conducted research on the fusion protein of Respiratory Syncytial viurs as a target for conformationally specific neutralizing antibodies. Keith returned to UQ in 2011 and his research has focused on understanding of many medically and environmentally important viruses and bacteria, particularly focussing on Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV), SARS-CoV-2, Koala Retrovirus and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Paul Dennis leads an exciting research group that applies cutting-edge technologies to understand the roles of microorganisms and their responses to environmental change.

He is also a passionate educator and public speaker who advocates for the importance of biological diversity and evidence-based environmental awareness. He has talked about his research on ABC Radio and a range of other media outlets.

His teaching covers aspects of ecology, microbiology, plant and soil science, and climatology. He considers these topics to be of fundamental importance for the development of more sustainable societies and takes pride in helping others to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to build a better future.

Paul's research has taken him to Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, high mountains and oceans. The approaches used in his lab draw on a wide range of expertise in molecular biology, ecology, statistics, computer science, advanced imaging and soil science. He applies these skills to a wide-range of topics and systems including plant-microbe interactions, Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecology, biogeography, pollution and human health.

Professor Denise Doolan is Director of Research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She joined IMB in 2022 and was previously Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, and Director of the JCU Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, at James Cook University.

She is a molecular immunologist, working on the development of vaccines, diagnostics and host-directed therapeutics for infectious and chronic diseases that impact global public health, with a particular focus on malaria. Her cross-disciplinary research program spans host-pathogen immunity, antigen discovery, vaccine engineering, and biomarker discovery. A particular interest is the application of state-of-the-art genome-based technologies and human models of disease system to identify novel targets for intervention against disease or that predict risk of disease.

She is a recognized world expert in malaria immunology, vaccinology, and omic-based approaches for therapeutic and diagnostic development. She has been honoured as a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines (2017) and a Fellow of the Australian Society of Parasitology (2019) in recognition of her leadership and contribution to health and medical science in Australia and internationally.

Professor Doolan serves on a number of Executive Boards and Advisory Boards. Most recently, she has been elected as President of the International Society for Vaccines (2021-2023), and has been appointed to the Federal Government’s Australian Medical Research Advisory Board (AMRAB; 2021-2026) to provide specialist insights into Australia’s medical research and innovation priorities.

Dr Christian Gray is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education (Personalised Learning & USMLE Prep) at The University of Queensland Medical School. His work focuses on personalised learning, assessment and preparation for medical licensing examinations, with a particular interest in understanding how individual students learn, prepare and adapt.

Dr Gray joined UQ in 2019, having previously been a Lecturer in Infection and Immunity and Immunology Discipline Lead at Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Practice from the University of Plymouth, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Prior to moving into medical education, Dr Gray undertook postdoctoral research across a range of areas in immunology, including tumour immunology, rheumatoid arthritis, pneumococcal immunity, mastitis resistance in dairy cattle and vaccine development. His biomedical research has been published in journals including Blood, Cancer Research, The Journal of Immunology, Clinical Cancer Research and Mucosal Immunology.

At UQ, Dr Gray's scholarship focuses on how students prepare for high-stakes assessment and medical licensing examinations and how assessment and learning data can be used to understand student readiness and learning behaviour. Within the UQ-Ochsner medical program, he has developed and coordinated structured preparation for USMLE Step 1. His research includes longitudinal investigation of student preparation and question-bank engagement, including changes associated with the transition of USMLE Step 1 to pass/fail reporting.

His work in medical licensing assessment extends internationally. He has contributed chapters to Cambridge University Press texts providing guidance for students preparing for and taking the UK Medical Licensing Assessment Applied Knowledge Test (MLA AKT). His broader educational scholarship includes personalised learning, support for students experiencing academic difficulty, inclusive approaches to learning and assessment, and understanding how learners adapt their preparation in response to assessment.

More broadly, Dr Gray's research interests extend to learning and learning behaviour across higher education, including the emerging role of artificial intelligence and its relationship with cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of learning. He currently supervises doctoral research in this area.

Dr. Wenyi Gu’s early education was conducted in China which include his undergraduate and master’s degrees in veterinary medicine. In 1996, he migrated to Australia and pursued his PhD study in biochemistry & molecular biology at the Australian National University (ANU). After a short period of work at John Curtin Medical School ANU as a junior scientist, he moved to Brisbane in 2001 for his post-doc at the University of Queensland and currently a post-doctoral research fellow at AIBN. He held a Peter Doherty Fellowship (2006-2009) and was further supported by NHMRC to spend 7 months at Harvard University as a visiting fellow in 2008. Since his post-doctoral research he has been working in the area of using RNAi to treat viral diseases and cancers. He also has a strong background in immunology and vaccine development.

As Director of IMPACT (Immunocellular Manufacturing Platform for Advanced Cell Therapies), a MRFF-NCRI initiative, I lead a research program with extensive expertise in immunology, particularly in natural killer (NK) cells, focused on developing innovative approaches for treating hard-to-cure diseases like metastatic cancers. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and extend lives. Recognized as an international leader in my field, I've been instrumental in identifying novel regulators of our immune functions, and developing NK cell-based immunotherapies.

My dedication to my field has been recognized through numerous peer-reviewed grants as sole-CI or CIA/Principal Investigator, including a NHMRC ECF Peter Doherty Fellowship, an NHMRC Project Grant, a US DoD grant, and a MRFF EMCR, among others. Since 2009, I've amassed a portfolio of >130 publications in renowned journals like JEM, Molecular Therapy, Nat Comms, and Nat Immunol. My body of work and contributions have been acknowledged with awards such as the 2019 Researcher of the Year by Cure Cancer Australia, 2020 QLD Young Tall Poppy Science, 2020 UQ Frazer Institute's Rising Star, 2022 Frazer Institute's Mentor of the Year, 2023 TRI – Connecting with the Clinic, and the 2025 Dr. Jian Zhou Foundation Award for Translational Medicine, among others. In addition, I currently serve as Deputy Editor of Immunology and Cell Biology.

Since 2024 I have served as Chair of Research and Non-Executive Director of Cure Cancer Australia, the national peak body for early- and mid-career cancer research funding, where I chair the research committee and oversee grant assessment panels. I also Co-Chair the Frazer Institute's Industry Engagement and Commercialisation Committee, shaping the Institute's approach to IP management, spin-out governance, and industry partnerships. Committed to translating fundamental discoveries into real-world therapies, I co-founded the venture-backed biotechnology company Sicario Tx, focused on advancing NK cell-based immunotherapies. I have also served as a scientific consultant and collaborator for national and international biotech companies, including Biotheus (now part of BioNTech's oncology pipeline), Prescient Therapeutics, and Microba Life Sciences, contributing to their development programs.

At present, I am a Group Leader / Principal Research Fellow & Associate Professor with the University of Queensland's Frazer Institute, where I direct IMPACT — UQ's cell therapy manufacturing and translational platform, operating as an academic CRO for academic and industry partners, from cell engineering and manufacturing through to trial-enabling preclinical studies. My research group is based at the Translational Research Institute (TRI). Here, I lead a high-performing research team with a keen focus on developing and innovating immunotherapy approaches for a spectrum of diseases.

Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams’ career focuses on understanding how immune tolerance is disrupted leading to the development of the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes. She received her PhD from the Australian National University in 2001, followed by postdoctoral training in Germany and the Scripps Research Institute in the USA.

In 2012, she started a laboratory at the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland where she investigates the gut microbiota as a potential trigger or therapy target for type 1 diabetes, as well as developing an immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes. The overall aim of her research is to find new ways to prevent or treat the underlying immune dysfunction causing autoimmunity.

She is Chief Scientific Officer for an Australia-wide pregnancy-birth cohort study of children at increased risk of type 1 diabetes, which aims to uncover the environmental drivers of this disease. Her laboratory uses big-data approaches including proteomics, metabolomics and metagenomics to understand the function of the gut microbiota linked to disease.

She recently conducted a clinical trial of a microbiome-targeting biotherapy aimed at restoring a healthy microbiome and immune tolerance, with an ultimate aim of preventing type 1 diabetes.

CURRENT POSITIONS

· Senior Staff Specialist (Public Health Medicine), Queensland Health

· Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Clinical Research - University of Queensland

RECENT POSITIONS

· General Practitioner, Indooroopilly General Practice

· Director, Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability (to January 2021)

· Senior Medical Officer, Mater Intellectual Disability and Autism Service (to November 2020)

· General Practitioner, Cornwall Street Medical Centre (to November 2020)

Alexander Khromykh has PhD degree in Molecular Virology. He worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa in Canada. He then joined Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre in Brisbane and became a laboratory Head in 2001. He moved his laboratory to St Luica campus in 2005 to take an appointment with the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB). He was the founding Director of the SCMB’s Centre for Infectious Disease Research and is currently the Deputy Director of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre. He is also the Director of Centre of Excellence and a member of COVID-19 and Zika virus Task Forces in the Global Virus Network.

Dr Larisa Labzin is an ARC Future Fellow and leads the viruses and innate immunity lab at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Her lab studies how our innate immune system detects viral infections and deciphers diverse signals to mount an appropriate immune response, with a focus on influenza and SARS-CoV-2. The Labzin group aims to identify new therapeutic targets to prevent and treat viral infections and diseases in humans and animals.

The lab has four key research areas: (1) how viral tropism and life cycle shape innate immune sensing and inflammation; (2) how pre-existing antibodies influence innate responses to viruses and vaccines; (3) how innate immune signalling differs across patient risk groups and species; and (4) how viral-triggered inflammation drives vascular dysfunction and thrombosis. As cell biologists, the Labzin Lab studies the primary cellular targets of these viruses (respiratory epithelial cells, macrophages, and endothelial cells) using imaging, molecular biology, gene editing, and immunological approaches.

Dr Labzin started her career in innate immunity with Honours at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at UQ with Prof. Matt Sweet before relocating to Germany to undertake her PhD with Prof. Eicke Latz, a world leader in innate immunity (2015, University of Bonn). She was subsequently awarded an EMBO Fellowship and NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship to undertake postdoctoral training at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, from 2016 to 2019. She returned to Australia in 2019 as a CJ Martin Fellow to start her independent research team at the IMB under the mentorship of Prof. Kate Schroder. She was heavily involved in science communication during the COVID-19pandemic and was a 2022 QLD Tall Poppy recipient and winner of the 2022 Australian Society of Immunology Public Engagement Award.