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A/Prof. Seth Cheetham is an ARC Discovery Early Career Award Fellow and Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. He is also the Deputy Director of the BASE facility, Australia's leading mRNA manufacturing hub. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, supported by the Herchel Smith Research Studentship. Seth is a molecular biologist and geneticist with a focus on mRNA drugs, synthetic biology and epigenetics. He has authored 25 publications, in some of the most influential molecular biology journals including Science, Molecular Cell, Nature Reviews Genetics , Genome Biology and Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. His work has attracted > $15M including back-to-back NHMRC and ARC Fellowships. In 2021 Seth was awarded the Genetics Society of Australasia Alan Wilton ECR awarded for his research in the field of RNA and epigenetics.

Yi-Hsun Chen completed his PhD in Physics at the Monash University in 2024. Prior to this PhD, he obtained his Master degree in Optoelectronics at the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, in 2014.

His research interests relate to electronic transport and optical properties of the following field of study:

• Superconducting qubits
• Exciton science
• Bose-Einstein condensate
• 2D materials (graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, etc.)
• Plasmonics

In 2024, He joins UQ as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under an ARC Linkage Project "Surface and Interface Engineering for Superconducting Quantum Circuits," pursuing high-quality superconducting quantum circuits using surface engineering strategies.

Please find his publication list via google scholar profile https://scholar.google.com.tw/citations?user=EvKa9qIAAAAJ&hl=en

Professor Ping Chen is Chair in Chinese Studies. His research interests include functional syntax, discourse analysis, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics. His current research projects are related to information structure in Chinese, and uses of languages in present-day China.

He teaches in the areas of Chinese language and linguistics.

Learning a foreign language is hard. Studying overseas in a foreign language is even harder!

Universities in Australia have up to 40% international students, that's 400,000+ students and makes up a significant portion of the Australian economy. These students face immense struggles adapting to Australian culture, language and education style. Without help, these students get lost in the complexities of higher-education and cannot successfully graduate.

Shaun's work involves developing innovative solutions with partner universities across the greater Asian regions though contextualised development programs, workshops that highlight modern teaching, and assisting students in acclimatising to their study-life in Australia. Shaun works heavily with China, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Jeff Chen is a pyrometallurgist with strong expertise in high-temperature phase equilibria and gas/solid reaction kinetics. He has over 15 years of research experience in extractive metallurgy, focusing on metals such as Cu, Pb, Ni, PGM, and Fe, through ongoing research collaborations with major mining and metal producers worldwide. Jeff has successfully secured over 10 million dollars in research funds from the Australian government and industry, primarily through funding schemes like ARC linkage and Trailblazer. His contributions to the field include the publication of over 60 papers in leading journals and major conferences in metallurgy, and he was awarded the Best Paper Award from TMS in 2021.

In addition, Jeff is a recognised expert in various quantitative microanalysis techniques, including electron microprobe (WDS) and laser ablation ICP-MS. His specialization lies in the application of quantitative microanalysis in the field of extractive metallurgy. He played a pioneering role in implementing LA-ICP-MS for trace element analysis in metallurgical materials and has consistently contributed to the development of new standard reference materials for sulfides and alloys. From 2018 to 2021, he served as the state representative for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in the Australian Microbeam Analysis Society.

Furthermore, Jeff has been actively involved in university teaching, covering subjects such as chemical thermodynamics, pyrometallurgy, and metal production and recycling

Dr. Qiaomin Chen is currently a Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability (AGFS) at the University of Queensland (UQ). Before receiving her PhD in Agricultural Science at UQ, she completed a Master’s degree in Physical Geography at UCAS and a Bachelor’s degree in Geographical Information System at WHT in China. With a solid foundation across earth and agricultural sciences, she has consistently pursued interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, actively exploring innovative solutions at the interface of geoscience and agriculture. Her diverse background empowers her to tackle real-world challenges in agricultural production.

She is particularly passionate about developing and applying advanced technologies in precision agriculture and modern crop breeding to improve efficiency and sustainability. She works at the intersection of plant phenotyping, crop modelling, machine learning and climate adaptation. Her current research focuses on leveraging integrative modelling approaches to inform field experiment design, optimize phenotyping strategies, and support crop growth monitoring across spatial and temporal scales.

• My academic qualifications include a PhD in Neurosciences, an MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and a Bachelor of Medicine.
• I have initiated and managed multiple projects to develop novel therapeutics for neurological disorders, including: 1) Developing a nanoparticle-based siRNA delivery system for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (ARC project; as Postdoctoral Research Fellow). 2) Examining the treatment effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) on epilepsy (Advance Queensland Women’s Academic Fund; as Sole Investigator). 2) Examining the effectiveness of three neuroinflammation modulatory agents on traumatic brain injury and epilepsy through randomised controlled preclinical trials (Seed projects sponsored by industry partners: VivaZome Therapeutics, Implicit Bioscience, and Innate Immunotherapeutics; as Co-investigator). 3) Developing treatment strategies to prevent the development of epilepsy after severe traumatic brain injury and identifying medical imaging biomarkers to evaluate the risk of epilepsy post-injury (two U.S. Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs; as Co-investigator). 4) Developing exosomal therapy for traumatic brain injury (Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) Grant with two research groups from academic institutions and three pharmaceutical companies; as Principal Investigator).

I am a Senior Research Fellow, NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow, and Group Leader at UQ Frazer Institute. I was awarded my PhD in late 2017 by Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. Under the UQ Health Research Accelerator (HERA) program, I lead a team to investigate T and B cell responses that profoundly regulate vaccine responses, viral clearance, and anti-tumour immunity.

My research program employs combinatorial methodologies of Biochemistry and Immunology to uncover new molecular mechanisms controlling T-cell-mediated immunity:

1. The action of T cells is required in antibody responses for suppressing viral infection or tumour growth and to confer protection upon vaccination. In particular, follicular helper T (Tfh) cells, a specialised subset of CD4+ T cells, essentially instruct the B cells to produce long-lived antibody protection. The knowledge of Tfh cells has fundamentally enabled vaccine development and therapy design for autoimmune diseases.

2. T-cell-derived cytokines play pivotal roles in both humoral and cellular immunity. Particularly, interleukin-21 (IL-21) is essential for supporting germinal centre (GC) reaction, where the B cell memory and long-lived antibody responses are generated. Besides, IL-21 is also the only known cytokine to maintain the functionalities of CD8+ T cells in the context of chronic infections or cancers by preventing a loss-of-function program termed 'exhaustion'.

This research program has generated multiple cutting-edge discoveries in the field, producing publications as 1st or joint 1st authors in top-tier journals including Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, and Nature Communications.

Professor Chen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. She has over twenty five years research experience in the areas of membrane separation, gas separation, biocatalytic systems, nanomaterials, and water treatment. She was professor of chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales from 2008 - 2018, the Director of the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology from 2006 - 2014 and head of school of chemical engineering fron 2014 - 2018. She is currently on the editorial board for the Journal of Membrane Science and was formerly on the editorial board for Desalination Journal.

She currently holds ARC Discovery grants ("Putting MOFs to Work on Interfaces") and has recently held funding from diverse sources such as CO2CRC, Coal Innovation NSW, ARC Linkage program, and CRC-P (Printed Energy).

Dr Shujian Chen started his research on nanomaterial modified cement and concrete in 2011. He is also dedicated to developing and adapting new nano/micro-scale characterisation and simulations techniques for developing new cement and concrete-based construction materials via emerging technologies. Since 2014, he extended his research to apply 3D printing technology in advanced manufacturing of multifunctional, high-performance cement-based materials.

Conduct interdisciplinary research to tackle technical challenges associated with the efficient and responsible extraction of geo-energy and geo-resources. Three main focuses of my research interests are:

1. Mining geomechanics for high-stress and high-temperature mining conditions.

• It covers ground support design, excavation stability analysis, pillar stability, mine seismicity, strata movement and surface subsidence, and mine paste fill optimisation.
• My research team has also conducted extensive work on (i) using Thin Spray-On Liners (TSLs) to replace shotcrete, (ii) developing new experimental capabilities in assessing grout durability in extremely acidic and hot conditions (>140°C ), and (iii) evaluating rock sensitivity to different weathering conditions (e.g., wet-dry cycles and humidity effect).

2. Reservoir geomechanics, targeting key technical challenges associated with unconventional gas recovery.

• It includes borehole stability, permeability evolution, reservoir petrophysical properties characterisation, multiphase flow in fractured porous media with challenges associated with natural gas extraction, carbon geological sequestration, underground hydrogen storage, and energy storage in depleted reservoirs, and
• Over the years, my group has developed advanced multiscale multiphase and multiphysics computational modelling capabilities

3. Machine Learning Applications in Mining and Natural Gas Fields

• Explore the diverse applications of machine learning and deep learning algorithms in geomaterial strength analysis (sedimentary rock in particular), geotechnical characterization (e.g., automatic calculation of rock fracture characteristics, and roadway stability assessment of different geological conditions), and subsurface characterization. By harnessing the power of data-driven approaches, the research group aims to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of rock mechanics analysis, enabling more effective decision-making in engineering projects.

Teaching Courses:

1. Applied Mining Geomechanics (MINE3129) (Since 2023)
2. Mine Geotechnical Engineering (MINE4120) (2013- 2023)
3. Coal Mine Strata Control (MINE4128) (2013- 2023)

Resources Geomechanics Lab (NATA accredited. Accreditation Number: 21126) with leading experimental capabilities in:

1. A suite of rock mechanics testing capabilities:

• Mechanical properties (e.g., modulus, Poisson's ratio, density)
• Rock strengths (e.g., UCS, triaxial strength, fracture shear strength, direct shear, punch shear, direct tensile strength, Brazilian Tensile Strength, and bond adhesion force), and
• Rock petrophysical properties (e.g., porosity, permeability/conductivity at different high confining stresses, fracture compressibility, slake durability, and rock weathering etc)

2. Rock dynamic responses to different stress conditions (transient condition) using non-destructive methods (e.g., Acoustic Emission and Ultrasonic Detection for different applications at different scales)

3. Characterization of fluid flow (water or gas) in fractured porous media under a high-stress environment (up to 10,000 psi)

4. Quantifying the evolution of the intrinsic and relative permeability of extremely tight reservoirs (e.g., coals, shales, and tight sandstones) to gas adsorption/desorption as well as the changes of contact angle with varying reservoir pressure

5. Visualising two-phase flow using microfluidics: discontinuous flow vs continuous flow

6. Quantifying the impact of proppant embedment and reservoir stress on shale permeability evolution

7. Gas isotherm and directional sorption-induced strain measurements for different absorbing reservoir rocks

8. Mine paste rheological property measurements at various shearing controls, e.g., constant shear rate, varying shearing rate, ramping controls etc.

Dr Chen’s research aims to understand the molecular details of how phosphatases, kinases and their associated proteins regulate cell signaling and homeostasis.

In 2011, Dr Chen completed his PhD on structural studies of macrophage proteins in Professor Jennifer Martin’s laboratory at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

In 2012, Dr Chen secured a postdoctoral research position at Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan) to work on the molecular insights of phosphatases and kinases interaction using the combination of X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering and chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry.

In 2015, he also received the Outstanding Young Postdoctoral Research Award from the Biophysics Society of Republic of China (Taiwan).

In June 2016, Dr Chen joined Associate Professor Brett Collins’ group at IMB, where he is working to understand how lipid kinases and lipid-binding proteins are involved in the regulation of cellular membrane transport.