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Professor Kate Schroder heads the Inflammasome Laboratory and is Director of the Centre for Inflammation and Disease Research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), University of Queensland, as an NHMRC Leadership Fellow. Kate’s graduate studies defined novel macrophage activation mechanisms and her subsequent postdoctoral research identified surprising inter-species divergence in the inflammatory programs of human versus mouse macrophages. As an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow in Switzerland, Kate trained with the pioneer of inflammasome biology, Jürg Tschopp. The IMB Inflammasome Laboratory, which Kate heads, investigates the molecular mechanisms governing inflammasome activity and caspase activation, the cellular mediators of inflammasome-dependent inflammation, and mechanisms of inflammasome inhibition by cellular pathways and small molecule inhibitors.

Kate is a co-inventor on patents for small molecule inhibitors of the NLRP3 inflammasome, currently under commercialisation by Inflazome Ltd. Inflazome Ltd was recently acquired by Roche in a landmark deal – one of the largest in Australian and Irish biotech history. The acquisition gives Roche full rights to Inflazome’s portfolio of inflammasome inhibitors. Two of the company’s drug candidates are in clinical trials for the treatment of debilitating conditions such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and motor neuron disease.

Kate has authored more than 140 publications, featuring in journals such as Science, Cell, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, Nature Chemical Biology, Journal of Experimental Medicine and PNAS USA, and her work has been cited more than 35,000 times. Kate is an Editorial Board Member for international journals including Science Signaling, Clinical and Translational Immunology and Cell Death Disease. She is the recipient of the 2022 Women in Technology Excellence in Science Award, 2020 Nancy Mills Award for Women in Science, 2019 ANZSCDB Emerging Leader Award, 2019 Merck Research Medal, 2014 Milstein Young Investigator Award, 2013 Tall Poppy Award, 2012 Gordon Ada Career Award, 2010 QLD Premier’s Postdoctoral Award, and the 2008 Society for Leukocyte Biology’s Dolph Adams Award.

INFLAMMASOME LABORATORY RESEARCH

During injury or infection, our body’s immune system protects us by launching inflammation. But uncontrolled inflammation drives diseases such as gout, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease and cancer. The Inflammasome Lab is defining the molecular and cellular processes of inflammation. We seek to unravel the secrets of inflammasomes – protein complexes at the heart of inflammation and disease – to allow for new therapies to fight human diseases.

The Inflammasome Laboratory integrates molecular and cell biology approaches with in vivo studies to gain a holistic understanding of inflammasome function during infection, and inflammasome dysfunction in human inflammatory disease. Current research interests include the molecular mechanisms governing inflammasome activity and caspase activation, the cellular mediators of inflammasome-dependent inflammation, and inflammasome suppression by autophagy and small molecule inhibitors.

Dr. Helena Schuch is a senior research fellow at the School of Dentistry, University of Queensland.

She is a dentist and an oral epidemiologist with special interest in social epidemiology. Helena is also interested in methods to estimate causal inference and on applying machine learning techniques to predict oral health outcomes.

She completed her PhD in Oral Epidemiology at the University of Adelaide (2018) and is currently in the Editorial Board of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.

Qualifications: BDS, MScDent, PhD

Research Interests: Oral health inequalities. Life course epidemiology. Causal inference methods. Machine learning applied to oral health.

Associate Professor Jessica Schults is a Principal Research Fellow with the The University of Queensland School of Nursing, Midwifery and Sociall Work and the Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health. She is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow whose research focuses on reducing the burden of healthcare-associated infections. Jessica leads the NHMRC-funded REBUILD program, a national learning health system initiative designed to strengthen infection prevention and control across Australian healthcare services. She is Co-Principal Investigator of the MRFF-funded IVCare adaptive platform trial, and leads the first international living evidence synthesis for prevention of central line-associated bloodstream infection. A former paediatric intensive care nurse, Jessica has established a multidisciplinary research program spanning clinical trials, epidemiology, evidence synthesis, implementation science, consumer engagement, and policy translation. Her work is focused on generating evidence that is capable of delivering measurable improvements in patient outcomes and health system performance.

Jessica has strong national and international partnerships with healthcare consumers, clinicians, policymakers, professional organisations, and health services. She provides expert advice to government (ACSQHC technical advisor) and healthcare organisations on infection prevention and control and holds leadership roles across critical care and infection prevention societies, research networks and NGOs (board director ANZ Intensive Care Fouondation). She is committed to building research capacity and supporting the next generation of clinician-researchers.

Dr Tom Schultz is a molecular immunologist and early career researcher at the UQ Frazer Institute who studies the molecular and cellular biology of innate immune receptors. His research primarily focuses on molecular mechanisms of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signalling in the context of mycobacterial and Gram-negative bacterial infection of macrophages.

I graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and Science in 2000 from The University of Queensland, after which I joined Proteome Systems, an Australian biotechnology company. In 2004 I moved to the ETH Zurich in Switzerland for my doctoral studies. I joined the School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences as a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2008 and NHMRC Career Development Fellow in 2012. I am now Associate Professor in Biochemistry.

I'm a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Queensland, where I use computational methods and large text and speech corpora to study how English is actually used — in everyday conversation, across social groups, and by learners.

My research focuses on features that traditional grammars overlook but that shape real communication: discourse markers (like, you know), general extenders, terms of address, vulgarity, and adjective amplification. I also work in corpus phonetics, particularly vowel production and voice-onset timing in first- and second-language English speakers.

Alongside my research, I hold several roles focused on language research infrastructure:

• Director of Research, School of Languages and Cultures, UQ
• Director of the Language Technology and Data Analysis Laboratory (LADAL), a free open-access hub for language data science (https://ladal.edu.au/)
• Chief Investigator on the Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA), a national research infrastructure project (https://www.ldaca.edu.au/)

I'm also an advocate for reproducibility and open science in the humanities and social sciences, and I develop tools and workflows that make text and speech analysis more transparent and rigorous.

Research areas: applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, sociolinguistics, language variation and change, learner corpus research, corpus pragmatics, reproducibility, digital humanities.

I graduated from The University of Queensland Gatton Campus in 1994, taking my first position within the School of Veterinary Science in October 1994. I am an experienced Veterinary Technical Officer, qualified Veterinary Nurse and Workplace Trainer and Assessor. I have a strong background in animal husbandry and welfare, behaviour, applied animal ethics, and sustainable wellbeing with more than 30 years’ experience in varied animal and veterinary research paradigms.

Following 18 years as Manager of the Clinical Studies Centre (CSC) within the School of Veterinary Science, I moved into a Level A academic position and was appointed Academic Program Coordinator for the Bachelor of Veterinary Technology degree at UQ (2013 - 2019). Concurrently, I held the position of Director of the CSC from 2013 – 2018. I teach primarily into the BVetTech and BVSc programs but also contribute to several other animal-related programs at the UQ Gatton Campus.

My passion for teaching, and commitment to instil a desire in all students to embrace life-long learning underpins my teaching and mentoring philosophy.

I gained my PhD in 2017 and have expanded my areas of speciality research to include the psychology of human – animal relationships, animal behaviour and animal-related occupational trauma and healing. I am a Compassion Fatigue Specialist Therapist, and recieved my Graduate Diploma in Psychological Sciences in 2022. Having lived experience of occupational trauma and compassion fatigue, I present extensively in these subject areas as well as in psychological wellbeing and emotional intelligence. Further to presentations, I also provide interactive, thought-provoking seminars and workshops within all sectors of animal-related industries and occupations.

Honorary Professor, Centre for the Government of Queensland, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics.

Professional Activities:

Executive Director, T.J.Ryan Foundation (2013 onwards)

Project Director, "Queensland Speaks" Oral History web-site, (2009 onwards)

Board Member, Youth + Marlene Moore Flexi-learning Centre Network, Edmund Rice Education Australia (2013 onwards).

National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (since 1990).

Former editor of The Public Interest (Brisbane).

Former co-editor of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

Former Review Editor for Politics (now AJPS).

Member/chair of several Quality Assessment Panels of the Queensland Office of Higher Education and formerly member of similar bodies operating in several states during the CAE era.

Member of several Federal Government committees of enquiry into education, including management education (Ralph Committee), aboriginal education (Yunipingu Committee) and university management (Linke Committee).

Former panel member of the Commonwealth Government Review Tribunal on Non-state Schooling.

Former consultant to international aid organizations, providing advice on public sector reform - Uganda, Kazakstan and Nepal.

Background:

1962-1965 : Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford; fieldwork for thesis on the development of trade unions in Uganda completed while Rockefeller Teaching Fellow at the University of East Africa, Kampala.

1965-1977 : Lecturing at University of Sydney, the Queen's University of Belfast, and the Canberra College of Advanced Education (Principal Lecturer in Politics in the School of Administrative Studies).

1977-1987: J.D.Story Professor of Public Administration, University of Queensland. President of the Academic Board, 1986-1987.

1987-1990: Principal of the Canberra CAE, Foundation Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra.

1990-1994 : Director General of Education, State Government of Queensland.

1994 : Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Management, Griffith University.

1994 - 2000: Dean of Arts, Queensland University of Technology.

2000 - 2002: Professor of Public Management, Faculty of Business, QUT.

2003 - 2011: Professor Emeritus and Teaching Fellow, School of Political Science and International Studies.

Research Interests:

• The practice of public policy in Queensland.
• Political history of Queensland.

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the labs of Professor Daniel Watterson and Professor Keith Chappell, specialising in the structure-guided design of vaccines and therapeutics for emerging viral pathogens, with a particular emphasis on flaviviral diseases.

My research journey began with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in Microbiology from The University of Queensland in 2018. I subsequently undertook a PhD (2019–2023) under the supervision of Professors Daniel Watterson, Keith Chappell, and Paul Young, during which I developed antibody discovery platforms for two innovative viral vaccine technologies; the Molecular Clamp and the ISVac chimeric virus system. Using these platforms, I generated therapeutic candidates for the treatment of dengue, which demonstrated efficacy in animal models of dengue virus infection.

Throughout my candidature, I also contributed to the development of The University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine, which advanced to Phase I clinical trials, as well as to ongoing efforts to refine next-generation Molecular Clamp-stabilised vaccine technologies.

Since 2023, I have continued my work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Professor Watterson, focusing on the structural characterisation of antibody–virus interactions and the development of broad-spectrum therapeutics for flaviviruses. My current research integrates molecular virology, antibody discovery, and cryogenic electron microscopy to elucidate key neutralising antibody epitopes on flaviviruses, and other emerging viruses, and apply these insights toward the rational design of cross-protective vaccines and antibody-based therapies.

Alongside my ongoing work in the Watterson Laboratory, in 2025 I began working with Professor Keith Chappell as an electron microscopy and antibody discovery expert on the Rapid Response Vaccine Platform project, which leverages The University of Queensland’s proprietary Molecular Clamp technology. In this role, I lead the structural biology component of antigen lead selection, using cryogenic electron microscopy to characterise antigen conformations and assess their suitability for vaccine development. Additionally, I oversee the discovery and characterisation of novel monoclonal antibodies that serve as key reagents for vaccine potency and functional assessments. Through this work, I contribute to advancing a robust and flexible vaccine design pipeline capable of rapidly responding to emerging viral threats.

Ian Scott is the Director of Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and a Professor with the Faculty of Medicine. He is a consultant general physician with clinical interests in in health services evaluation and improvement, clinical guidelines, clinical decision-making, evidence-based medicine, low value care, quality use of medicines, non-invasive cardiology, advance care planning, and older patient care. He chaired the Queensland Clinical Networks Executive 2022-2024, is the inaugural chair of the Australian Deprescribing Network (2014-2023), Metro South Clinical AI Working Group, and Queensland Health Sepsis AI Working Group (both ongoing) and is a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Affiliate of the US Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (ANZA-SIDM). He was also a member of Queensland Health System Quality, Safety and Performance Management Committee (2022-2024) and the Quality and Safety Committee (2015-2020) and the Digital Health Advisory Group of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP - ongoing). He is a past President of the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (2003-2005) and past member of the MBS Review Taskforce for Cardiac Services (2017-2019). He has led multi-site quality improvement collaboratives in acute cardiac care including both hospitals and Divisions of General Practice. He has been involved at senior level on various high-level committees in establishing policies for Queensland Health and/or RACP on electronic discharge summaries, clinical handover, clinical indicators, evaluation of physician performance, chronic disease management, perioperative medicine, medical assessment and planning units, and patient flow through emergency departments. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, presented to over 170 national and international meetings, and is a recipient of several NHMRC and government research grants.

Dr. Theresa Scott, Associate Professor and former NHMRC Dementia Research Development Fellow, specialises in researching functional outcomes for older people and people living, or caring for a person, with dementia in various settings. Her NHMRC fellowship focused on dementia-related driving issues, leading to the co-development of CarFreeMe, a driving cessation program delivering support to people with dementia, adapted for telehealth delivery through additional NHMRC funding.

Dr. Scott's recent NHMRC MRFF-funded project collaborates with stakeholders to create resources for driving safety assessment with persons with dementia in primary care settings, including an innovative video-based fitness to drive test. She is Chief Investigator (CIA Prof Barbara Masser) on an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant that is generating new knowledge in recruiting, retaining, and deferring older blood donors.

Her research spans qualitative and quantitative methods and emphasises participatory research, co-design, and the integration of lived experiences. Her mixed methods research aims to improve the mental health, emotional well-being, quality of life and quality of care of older Australians and people living with progressive brain diseases such as dementia and their family care partners, through innovative research and knowledge translation activities. Her work addresses ageism, dementia stigma, mental health outcomes of psychosocial interventions, for example the mental health benefits of nature connection, significantly impacting dementia care, and loneliness and isolation.

Research interests:

• Ageing
• Aged care
• Co-design
• Dementia and quality of life
• Driving cessation and driving safety assessment
• Mental health outcomes of psychosocial interventions

Research Projects:

• Video-based Medical Fitness to Drive assessment (MRFF) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/55955
• Driving cessation intervention for persons with dementia (NHMRC) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/32115
• Engaging the over 50s to ensure the sustainability of our blood supply (ARC) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/61705

James leads the Child and Youth Research Group at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research and the Youth Mental Health Research Group at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research. He also practices clinically as a Child and Youth Psychiatrist with the Metro North Mental Health Service, where he is the Director of the Early Psychosis Service. James is the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellowship (2016-2020), awarded for his research into prevention and intervention strategies to improve the mental health of adolescents.

James has established a programme of research developing preventative strategies and cost-effective real-world interventions for mental illness in children and youth. His research incorporates studies in epidemiology, clinical trials, bullying and psychiatric neuro-immunology. He is the elected chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Section for Youth Mental Health and an editor of the Journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. In 2018, he was awarded the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Senior Research Award, conferred on the “Fellow who has made the most significant contribution to psychiatric research in Australia and New Zealand over the preceding five years”.

Senior clinical pharmacist with 3 decades of experience in many facets of the pharmaceutical industry in both Australia and the UK- including work for Queensland Health as clinical pharmacist, clinical educator and team leader, National Prescribing Service academic detailer, Australian Pharmacy Council subject matter expert, Kidney Health Australia clinical advisory committee, CARI guideline working group member, Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) leadership group chair, and working as a community pharmacist and Home Medicines Review facilitator and provider.

Dr Ismail Sebina is a Research Fellow at the Frazer Institute-The University of Queensland, under the mentorship of Prof. Gabrielle Belz. He holds a PhD in immunology from The University of Queensland (awarded in 2017) and a Master’s degree in the Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM; UK). He has contributed to discovery and translational immunological research in several laboratories across the USA, the UK, Uganda, and Australia, implementing studies in both preclinical mouse models and humans. He completed six years of rigorous postdoctoral training in immunology at the University of Washington (USA) and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research institute (QIMR Berghofer; Australia). He has demonstrated a strong record of publications in high-impact journals such as Immunity, Science Immunology, JCI and PNAS. He has regularly presented his findings at national and international conferences (e.g. Keystone Symposium and ASI), furthering my engagement with the scientific community. Dr. Sebina's primary research focus revolves around uncovering the mechanisms that underpin natural and vaccine-induced immunity to infections. With a passion for improving maternal, newborn, and child health, he also explores novel immunological strategies that have the potential to revolutionize healthcare practices in this area.