EMBL Australia

The Ananthanarayanan Group is interested in understanding how stochastic and rare events, such as motor protein binding to cytoskeletal tracks or cargo, give rise to complex cellular organisation across scales.

The Arumugam Group is interested in how complex properties arise out of molecules and their interactions, with a primary focus on endosomal trafficking at the level of single cells and in the context of intercellular communications in development.

The Biro Group investigates the cell biology and mechanics of the actin cytoskeleton, and how immune cells locate and kill cancer cells.

The Boyle Group's goal is to inform the development of effective malaria vaccines by defining functional mechanisms of antibodies that target the parasite, and the development of protective antibodies in humans.

The Cryle Group focuses on antibiotics: understanding how they are made in nature and how we can re-engineer these natural systems to produce new antibiotics, as well as developing novel approaches to treat bacterial infections.

The Davidovich Group aims to understand the detailed molecular events that underlie the recruitment and regulation of chromatin-modifying complexes by their co-factor proteins, RNAs and DNA.

The Eyras Group is working to understand the biology of RNA and cancer using computational methods.

The Gambin Group is interested in how certain proteins aggregate together, leading to cell death and Parkinson’s disease.

The Martino group is focused on combining knowledge of immunology, stem cells, and bioengineering, to understand how the immune system modulates tissue repair and regeneration.

The Morris Group applies and develops concepts from statistical and theoretical soft-condensed matter physics, as well as applied mathematics, in order to describe biological systems.

The Roman Group investigates how cells communicate to establish organ architecture and function and aims to improve muscle disorders and ageing.

The Weatheritt Group aims to uncover the root causes of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, using computational and system biology approaches and to develop novel therapeutic interventions.

The Zhang Group aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulation and their implications in
cancer.

Professor James Beeson is the Deputy Director of the Burnet Institute and Head of the Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Research Group and the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies program.

Professor Robert Brink is an immunologist and head of the Garvan Institute's Immunology Research Division and director of Translation Science.

Till Böcking leads the Molecular Machines Group in the EMBL Australia Node for Single Molecule Science at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Professor John Carroll is a global expert on female reproduction, embryo development and infertility. He is Dean of Biomedical Science at Monash University and the Director of the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.

Professor Peter Currie is a world-renowned developmental evolutionary and stem cell biologist and the Director of Research at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI).

Professor Ross Hannan is an expert in cancer biology and therapeutics. He is the Centenary Chair in Cancer Research and Head of the ACRF Department of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics at John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University.

Professor Jose M. Polo is an expert in cellular reprogramming, epigenetics and stem cell biology. He is Director of the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics (ACE), a Program Leader at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) and a Professor at Monash University.

Professor David Lynn was an EMBL Australia group leader at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Flinders University between 2014 and 2023. He is a Professor of Systems Immunology at Flinders University and Director of the SAHMRI Computational and Systems Biology Program and Head of the Systems Immunology Laboratory.

Associate Professor Edwina McGlinn was an EMBL Australia group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, between 2011 and 2020. During that time, the McGlinn Group focused on elucidating novel gene networks that drive growth and identity in the early embryo.

Associate Professor Harald Janovjak was an EMBL Australia group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, between 2018 and 2021. In January 2022 Harald relocated to the Flinders University as a Professor where his group will continue to manipulate mammalian physiology with synthetic biology.

Dr Nicolas Plachta was an EMBL Australia group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, between 2011 and 2015. He went on to lead a research group at Singapore's A*STAR, before joining the University of Pennsylvania, where his group uses live imaging technologies to study how the early mammalian embryo forms.

Associate Professor Pirjo Apaja was an EMBL Australia group leader at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the University of Adelaide between 2016 and 2021. During that time, the Apaja Group investigated protein networks and mechanisms that regulate protein trafficking, signalling and organelle function.

Associate Professor Ville-Petteri Mäkinen was an EMBL Australia group leader between 2014 and 2023 at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the University of Adelaide, where he investigated metabolomics and the intersection of ageing, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is now a researcher at the University of Oulu, Finland.

Professor Barry Thompson was an EMBL Australia group leader at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University between 2019 and 2023. His group aimed to understand the control of tissue growth and form, with a focus on exploring how cells construct epithelial tissues during development and how epithelial tumours can arise.