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Dr Melanie Robitaille is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher working with the Calcium Signalling in Therapeutics Team (CaSTT) in the School of Pharmacy. This team specializes in the development and application of novel methodologies and cellular assays in drug discovery, including the use of genetically encoded indicator for high-content imaging in live cells.

Her interests are to elucidate how calcium signals are remodelled in disease states, to identify calcium transporters as new therapeutic targets and to develop molecular and cellular screening tools to be used in drug development programs. She has an established profile in cellular and molecular biology, with high expertise in plasmid cloning, lentiviral transduction and the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to modulate gene expression.

A/Prof Barbara Rolfe is a Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. A/Prof Rolfe is an immunologist and cell biologist, whose major research interests are the role of the innate immune system in cancer, the identification of novel therapeutic strategies for cancer, and nanomaterial safety. Her research has led to the identification of a previously unknown mechanism by which dysregulation of the immune system contributes to cancer development and growth, and provided information regarding the immune response to nanomaterials and the influence of physicochemical characteristics on biodistribution and cellular uptake. A/Prof Rolfe has used mouse models and small peptide agonists and antagonists to investigate the role of the innate immune system in tumour development and growth. This research demonstrated for the first time an important role for complement proteins in promoting tumour growth via regulation of immunosuppressive innate immune cells. Ongoing research is aimed focussed on gaining a better understanding of the role of complement proteins in tumour growth, developing novel immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer and investigating the application of nanomaterials for targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs.

Dr Selwin Samuel is a dental academic and early-career researcher with a diverse background spanning clinical dentistry, forensic odontology, immunology, and translational biomedical science. He completed his PhD at The University of Queensland, focusing on bone immunology and infectious complications in spinal cord injury, and currently serves as a Course Coordinator and Lecturer at the UQ School of Dentistry.

Dr Jodi Saunus is a senior fellow who specialises in translational research on metastatic breast cancer. Based at Brisbane’s Translational Research Institute, she was recruited by Mater Research in 2022 to help facilitate patient-focused research at the interface of biomedical R&D and clinical practice.

Dr Saunus has an honours degree in biochemistry and biomedical science, a PhD in breast cancer molecular genetics, and broad post-doctoral experience in immunology, molecular cell biology, pathology informatics, and early-phase investigator-initiated clinical trials. Her current portfolio focuses finding new ways to improve the clinical management of aggressive breast cancer, with a focus on triple-negative breast cancer, and the prevention and treatment of brain metastases. This work spans across multiple disciplines and capabilities, and broadly involves:

• Molecular profiling of patient-donated blood and tumour tissue samples to identify features that can predict treatment response, or represent previously uncharacterised therapeutic targets.
• Using experimental models of breast cancer metastasis to learn about the molecular mechanisms exploited by cancer cells to survive and grow in brain tissue.
• Developing innovative treatment strategies that work differently to conventional cancer drugs, including alpha-particle endoradiotherapy and in-situ vaccination.

With an outstanding network of collaborators from academia and clinical practice, she has secured more than $6M to fund this work and has a track record of publishing in prominent biomedical research journals (e.g., Cancer Research, Nature, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications and The Journal of Pathology).

Peripherally, Jodi is a strong proponent of biospecimen banking, and clinician and consumer engagement in translational research.

Dr Abbas Shafiee is leading a multidisciplinary program in Regenerative Dermatology and Biofabrication. His research integrates stem cell biology, organoid technology, and bioengineering to develop advanced human models and regenerative therapies for skin repair and disease.

Dr Shafiee completed his PhD in stem cell biology, discovering a previously unknown vascular stem cell population, termed the Meso-Endothelial Bipotent Progenitor, and mapping its molecular signatures (Stem Cell Reports 2018). This seminal discovery advanced the understanding of human vascular development and regeneration.

He subsequently joined Distinguished Professor Dietmar Hutmacher’s group, where he developed humanised tissue-engineered bone and tumour models that mimic cancer metastasis and tumor–stroma interactions. These models (International Journal of Cancer (2018), Biomaterials (2018, 2020), and Bone Research (2019), Acta Biomaterialia (2020), Bone (2022)) provided unprecedented insights into human-specific cancer biology and preclinical drug testing.

Dr Shafiee joined Metro North Health (MNH) in 2020 to lead a research program and develop, implement, and evaluate the applications of 3D printing, scanning, cell therapies, and biofabrication technologies in skin wound settings, and dermatology research. His team has developed vascularised and immune-integrated skin organoids and 3D-printed bioengineered grafts that accelerate wound closure with minimal scarring (Biomaterials 2021; Advanced Healthcare Materials (2022; 2025); Small 2024; Burns & Trauma 2025). These breakthroughs underpin new patient-specific skin disease models, and drug screening platforms (Acta Biomaterialia 2025). He is the lead inventor on an international patent protecting an Optimized Method for Generating Human Skin Organoids (WO/2025/097221), which forms the foundation for emerging commercial and translational partnerships. This body of work led to the establishment of the International Consortium for Organoid Research in Dermatology, a global network accelerating discovery and translation in skin biology, rare genetic skin diseases, and regenerative dermatology.

Dr Shafiee has secured >AUD $2.4M as Chief Investigator (>AUD $1M as CIA) in competitive research funding from national, international, philanthropic, and industry-supported schemes. Dr Shafiee has supervised more than ten PhD, Masters, honours students and contributed to multiple professional, editorial, and scientific leadership roles. He has authored over 86 peer-reviewed publications (>5,000 citations, h-index 40) and delivered more than 50 invited, keynote, and plenary presentations internationally. He serves on multiple professional and editorial boards, including Australian Wound & Tissue Repair Society (AWTRS), Burns & Trauma, and Engineered Regeneration. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to regenerative medicine and science communication, he has received multiple honours, including the 2024 Frazer Institute Rising Star Award, the 2025 AWTRS EMCR Award, and the 2025 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award.

He actively engages with the media, schools, and community programs to inspire future scientists and raise public awareness of regenerative medicine and organoid technologies. His outreach has reached millions nationwide through major media coverage (e.g., The Australian, 7NEWS, ABC NEWS) .

Research areas:

• Human iPSC-derived skin organoids and skin-on-chip models
• Vascularization and immune integration in skin tissue engineering
• Rare genetic skin diseases and personalized regenerative therapies
• Translational biofabrication and wound healing technologies
• Organoid-based preclinical drug discovery platforms

Honours, Masters, and PhD opportunities are available for motivated students interested in regenerative dermatology, biofabrication, and organoid biology.

Peter Simpson is a recognised expert in the molecular and pathological characterisation of breast and lung cancers. His research is based at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR), where he is the Head of the Cancer Theme and is a Research Group Leader in Cancer Genomics. He has published >150 articles (>12,000 citations, H-index 52; Scopus, May2025) including in Nature, Nature Medicine, Annals of Oncology and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He co-manages the Brisbane Breast Bank (BBB), a tissue bank created to facilitate clinical breast cancer research, and the Debutant lung cancer Program.

Pete also holds a teaching appointment in UQ, where he is passionate about the science and clinical applications of Pathology. He teaches into the UQ Medical Program (Year 1 and 2), as well as to undergraduates. He has co-authored a chapter ‘Breast Diseases’ in the latest edition (11th) of the internationally acclaimed Medical text book Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease.

Outside UQ, Pete is a Fellow of the Faculty of Science in the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FFSc RCPA), a member of the kConFab Executive (https://www.kconfab.org/), a member of the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Scientific Advisory Board (https://lobularbreastcancer.org/), and a member of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (Breast Cancer group).

Pete enjoys supervising students at all levels in their careers and collaborating within multidisciplinary teams spanning clinical (e.g. pathology, oncology) and science teams (e.g. in ‘omics, bioinformatics and machine learning).

Michelle Smith is a Associate Professor in Physiotherapy and a Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. She is Program Director for the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy and Masters of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy programs at UQ, Co-director of the International Ankle Consortium, Co-director of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health (SIRPH) research unit and Associate Editor of Physical Therapy and Sport.

The overarching theme of Michelle's research is lower limb joint health. Her research focuses on the prevention and management of lower limb joint injuries and pathologies across the lifespan to enable unrestricted participation in sport, physical activity and work. There are three key areas of her research:

1. To improve understanding of ankle injuries and osteoarthritis across the lifespan: Ankle sprains are the most common injury seen in emergency departments and are a primary cause of ankle osteoarthritis, which in light of its post-traumatic nature, often affects young adults. To optimise outcomes and participation for people with ankle pathologies, my research characterises impairments and participation restrictions in the continuum from ankle injury to osteoarthritis and establishes the efficacy of interventions to manage these conditions.
2. To understand the effectiveness and implementation of injury prevention strategies: While neuromuscular exercise program and taping/bracing have been shown to decrease injury risk, translation of research into practice is limited. My research investigates the implementation of injury prevention initiatives in adolescent athletes and involves stakeholders to better understand barriers and facilitators.
3. To evaluate the implementation of lower limb osteoarthritis interventions: Exercise and education for hip and knee osteoarthritis have been shown to improve quality of life and functional outcomes. My research investigates the implementation of such programs in public hospitals and private physiotherapy practices on patient outcomes and service delivery.

Michelle has presented her research and delivered keynote and invited presentations at national and international multi-disciplinary conferences. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy curriculum in the areas of musculoskeletal health and sports injuries. She has been recognised for her high teaching quality and impact at both School and Faculty levels through receipt of Teaching Excellence Awards. She is the Chair of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences External Engagement Committee and Deputy Chair of the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Group of the Austrailan Physiotherapy Association. She is a member of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Foot and Ankle Working Group, International Foot and Ankle Osteoarthritis Consortium, and Australian Foot and Ankle Research Network.

Emeritus Professor Mark Smithers is a surgical oncologist who specialises in surgery for oesophago-gastric diseases, melanoma, advanced skin cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. He was the Director of the Upper GI and Soft Tissue Unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Brisbane, Australia from 1998 - 2023. Commencing his academic career with the University of Queensland in 1987, he progressed to be the Mayne Chair in Surgery and head of the Academy of Surgery. He is the second University of Queensland Medical graduate to be appointed to this role. His research has been focussed on the development and assessment of outcomes from minimally invasive upper GI surgery, and trials assessing the role of perioperative multidisciplinary therapy for esophageal and gastric cancer. As well he has led, or been involved with, clinical trials from phase I to III, for all stages of melanoma through his role as the Chair of the Queensland Melanoma Project. More recently he has been involved with the assessment of access to, and outcomes from, surgery for cancer in Queensland, Australia.

He has overseen the administration and development of the surgery curriculum, and the teaching, in the Academy of Surgery, in the UQ Faculty of Medicine. He was on a number of committees relevant to the implementation of the UQ MD design course. He has held various leadership and committee roles with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, as well as leadership roles, including the Presidency, in the Australian and New Zealand Oesophago Gastric Surgeons Association. He has also been on the committees of international organisations related to oesophageal and gastric surgery. He has published 250 articles, eight book chapters, and has been on the editorial board of a number of surgical journals.

He has been recognised for his clinical and academic roles by the award of Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The citation reads, "for service to medicine in the fields of gastro-intestinal and melanoma surgery, to medical education and to professional organisations". The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons awarded him the Sir Hugh Devine medal, for services to surgery and the community. This is the College’s highest honour. Internationally, he has been awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and recently, in the United States, he was elected as an Honarary Fellow of the American Surgical Association.

Professor Brandon Wainwright AM is Co-Director of the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre and leads a laboratory within the UQ Diamantina Institute focused on understanding the genetic pathways behind medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumour that occurs predominantly in children. He is Chair of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Australia, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Robinson Research Institute and Chair of the Board of the South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute (SAIGENCI), and serves on the boards the Australian Genome Research Facility as well as several national and international scientific review committees, including the MRFF Brain Tumour Roadmap Committee.

Professor Wainwright completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at The University of Adelaide, after which he secured a postdoctoral fellowship with St Mary's Hospital at Imperial College London. During his six years at Imperial he worked on the first human genome project and also became a Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow. He returned to Australia in 1990 to join UQ's Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology (now IMB) and led the Institute for Molecular Biology until 2019.

Professor Wainwright is a geneticist, renowned for discovering the genetic pathway that causes most human cancer. He is skilled in molecular genetics, where he is using genetic approaches to dig through DNA and find the genes that cause disease. He commenced using these skills to locate the cystic fibrosis gene, but it was when isolating a gene responsible for a rare form of brain cancer called Medulloblastoma, that he discovered the role of the ‘Hedgehog Pathway' in common human cancer.

Dr Michael Waller: is a biostatistician working on the Australian Longitudinal Study of Womens Health (ALSWH). He has previous experience working on cancer screening, and military health studies. His current research focus is using linked data sources to assess dementia rates and risk factors.

Dr Haolu Wang currently is a Medical Registrar and Basic Physician Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians - The Prince Charles Hospital and Redcliffe Hospital (Northside) Rotation. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the joint liver cancer research program of Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland and Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation. Dr Wang received his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery qualifications from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. He was awarded his PhD in Clinical Medicine from The University of Queensland. Dr Wang has worked as a Medical Officer at Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and as a Researcher Officer at Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland.

Dr Wang has authored over 30 publications of clinical and translational research in liver diseases, including Hepatology, Theranostics, Int J Cancer, J Exp Clin Cancer Res and Pharmacol Ther. His standing in this field is reflected by awards from Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, United European Gastroenterology, European Microscopy Congress, The University of Queensland, Frazer Family Foundation and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Professor Ian Yang is a Thoracic Physician and Director of Thoracic Medicine at The Prince Charles Hospital, and Head of the PCH-Northside Clinical Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

My group studies the role of cadherin cell adhesion molecules in morphogenesis and tumor development. E-cadherin is a key mediator of cell-cell recognition. It participates in tissue patterning and its dysfunction contributes to tumor progression and invasion.

Associate Professor Yap is the group leader for Cadherin cell adhesion molecules, Epithelial morphogenesis & Cell locomotion research at the IMB.