Monday 27 November
Dr Steve Lee
Imaging 3D cell biology from organelles to whole spheroids
linkedin.com/in/w-m-steve-lee-14735714
@anuobig
I am an optical biophysicist who draws inspiration from the physical world of light and fluids to develop optical tools for cell biology. Currently, I lead the development of Spatial Adaptive Imaging and lithography (SAIL) tools that are designed to create new cell-based assays that can accelerate the micro-Avatars (organiod, spheriods) for human disease diagnosis and therapy.
a/prof Maté Biro
Imaging T cell movements, interactions and mechanics
A/Prof Maté Biro received his PhD summa cum laude at the Max Planck Institute CBG in Dresden, Germany in 2011, on the biophysics of cellular actin cortex assembly. He previously studied Physics (BSc) and then Bioinformatics (MSc) at the Imperial College in London, UK, and did his Masters research at MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. He has worked at a particle accelerator in Tsukuba, Japan and as a Research Associate for A*STAR in Singapore. In 2012, he moved to USyd, working on T cell migration and antitumour functions, and then in 2016 joined EMBL Australia at the Single Molecule Science node based at UNSW. His group’s research, highly multidisciplinary in nature, focuses on the migration of cytotoxic lymphocytes and tumour cells, and the signalling and mechanical interactions between them.
a/prof Amee George
Introduction to high-throughput and high-content imaging technologies
A/Prof Amee George heads the ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery (ACTD) and the Pharmacogenomic Technologies group located at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU. She is a national expert and emerging international leader in high-throughput screening (both using therapeutics and functional genomic screening), assay development and non-animal model technologies for fundamental and therapeutic discovery.
Wednesday 29 November
Dr Brad Tucker
Mt Stromlo Observatory, ANU Tour
linkedin.com/in/drbradtucker
@Btucker22
Astrophysicist and Cosmologist
Dr Max Nobis
Intravital Imaging of Fluorescent Biosensor Mice in Tissue Homeostasis and Disease
@_Intravital
@max_nobis_
linkedin.com/in/max-nobis/
Dr Nobis heads the Intravital Imaging Expertise Center at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology in Leuven, Belgium using a wide array of intravital imaging techniques to address a broad range of research questions in the fields of immunology, metabolism, development, cancer metastasis and neurobiology. He performed his PhD research the CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK establishing the use of FRET biosensor mice to dissect cancer progression and spatiotemporal treatment mapping using optical imaging windows. During his post-doctoral studies at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney Australia, his work has further centered around the use and characterization of novel FLIM-FRET biosensor mice in metabolism, infection, inflammation, cancer and development research.
Aqeel Ahmad Akber
Courage.
linkedin.com/in/aqeelakber/
Aqeel (they/them) is a founder of Thaum, which at at the time in 2018 was the first all student company “spin-out” from the Research School of Physics at ANU. They follow their excitement.
Thursday 30 November
PROF SI MING MAN
What’s next for your career?
@Simingman1
Linkedin.com/in/si-ming-man-5745693a/
Si Ming is a Professor of Immunology at the Australian National University. He started his own lab at the ANU in 2017 and become Professor at the age of 33.
Dr Ines Atmosukarto
Building bridges with LMIC countries – research and innovation from a different perspective
@iic_a
linkedin.com/in/ines-atmosukarto-6765754/
Ines I Atmosukarto (Ph.D) started as a researcher in Indonesia but subsequently moved to Australia and joined Lipotek Pty Ltd (LTK), a niche biotech company with roots at the ANU. Ines believes in opportunities for innovation in LMICs and established a long term collaboration for LTK with PT Bio Farma on a nanoparticularised self-adjuvanted recombinant vaccines for tuberculosis. Since the beginning of 2022, she has worked closely with the Indonesian Ministry of Health (MOH) to support their health biotechnology transformation agenda as the architect behind the recently launched MOH national genomic initiative, BGSi. She is a a technical consultant for the Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership and currently acts as a Technical Advisor to the (Ind) Minister for Health.
A/Prof LAWRENCE LEE
Working in a spinout vs academia
Lawrence Lee was awarded a PhD at Sydney University then worked as a Postdoc at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. Following this, Lawrence received a EMBO fellowship at the University of Oxford while establishing an independent research group focused on biomolecular self-assembly. In 2023 he co-founded a company to commercialise technology developed in his lab for DNA sequencing. Lawrence is currently employed as an Associate Professor at the EMBL Node for Single Molecule Science UNSW, Sydney, is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, and is CEO of Swan Genomics
Prof David Tscharke
CV Writing and Building
@Sharkviro
David Tscharke is a virologist who moonlights as an immunologist, or vice versa – depending on your point of view. He has diverse interests from antigen presentation to CD8 T cells, to herpes simplex virus (HSV) latency and vaccine vector engineering. He got to this point of confusion via a PhD in from Adelaide Uni on HSV pathogenesis in the mid-90s and postdocs at Oxford (where he swapped herpes for pox), the US National Institutes of Health, and QIMR in Brisbane. He started his own lab at ANU in 2006 with a teaching and research position (in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) and is currently an NHMRC Leadership Fellow at JCSMR. He acknowledges the benefits he has had over his career from working with excellent mentors, generous collaborators and brilliant students.
Erica Kneipp
Creative Careers
linkedin.com/in/erica-kneipp-88600683/
Erica Kneipp is the Research Director for the Human Health program with CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency. Her portfolio encompasses infectious disease preparedness, innovative diagnostic solutions, preventive health and clinical trials. She has spent decades working in state and Commonwealth health portfolios driving innovation in healthcare and was instrumental in establishing the Medical Research Future Fund, Biomedical Translation Fund and leading clinical trial reform. She is a Non-Executive Director for Brandon BioCatalyst and the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics.
Ann-Marie Heinrich
Investing the next generation of exceptional research leaders
As Associate Director, Policy and Operations, Ann-Marie Heinrich is responsible for policy and overseeing Snow Medical Research Foundation’s operations. Ann-Marie has been instrumental in developing and implementing Snow Medical’s key gender equality initiatives. She has a background in research strategy, policy, IP, governance, business development and commercial research/consultancy operations. Previously, Ann-Marie has held positions in legal and business affairs at some of the world’s leading media organisations, including the BBC, Foxtel and Ingenious.
A/Prof Nham Tran
A Career in Academia
linkedin.com/in/nham-tran
Nham completed his PhD in non-coding RNA (ncRNA) biology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and at Johnson and Johnson (J&J). He went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher with Professors Barbara Rose and Chris O’Brien at various research institutes before joining the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as a chancellor’s fellow. Nham leads a research program focused on oral cancers, specifically studying the regulatory role of small RNAs and HPV16-driven viral oncology. He is also interested in using small RNAs in cancer diagnosis and developing affordable molecular point-of-care devices. Nham is also a dedicated teacher and has held various senior leadership roles. His pedagogical approach is centred on student engagement and supporting real student growth.
Dr Roisin McMahon
From proteins to policy
Roisin moved from a biomedical research to a career in government via an Australian Science Policy Fellowship, an initiative of the Office of the Chief Scientist to place PhD trained scientists in Commonwealth government policy roles. She works in pharmacovigilance at the Therapeutic Goods Administration at the Department of Health. Elsewhere in the Department she has worked in Medicare policy, and with the Medical Research Future Fund. Before this she was a researcher at Griffith University and the University of Queensland. Her research interests were investigating new antimicrobial drug targets and identifying chemicals to block their activity. Roisin was a Superstar of STEM and Deputy Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s Early to Mid Career Research Forum.
Zoe Piper
Building a Portfolio Career
@Zoe_Piper
linkedin.com/in/Zoe-Piper
Zoe has spent the past 25 years crafting a portfolio career at the intersection of industry, research and government, including:
– Creating/consulting to businesses that deliver social impact
– Serving as a Non-Executive Director/Chair of the Board for several organisations in the social enterprise/innovation space
– Advising government on policy development
– Building connections between industry and research
Through her PhD she is exploring the career development of individuals concurrently working in industry, research and government (launching the Tri-Sector Hub to connect these professionals). In 2022, she also founded CareerVitae to empower individuals to aggregate, manage and share their career data.
A/Prof Jason Lee
Venture capital industry experience
@Dr_JasonLee
linkedin.com/in/jason-lee-6b719471
Associate Professor Jason Lee is the Head of the Epigenetics & Disease Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. He completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, and undertook his postdoctoral studies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. Jason was an Associate Professor at Seoul National University before returning to Australia as a QIMR International Research Fellow in 2013. His laboratory focuses on molecular epigenetics, hypoxic signalling and cancer metastasis. Jason has a keen interest in developing novel epigenetic inhibitors for cancer therapy, and is a MRFF REDI Fellow undertaking a commercialisation project at IP Group Australia assessing opportunities from research institutions to create and supporting a portfolio of spin-out companies.
Dillon Hammill
An Unconventional Journey to Revolutionising Cytometry Data Analysis
@DillonHammill | @CytoExploreR
Dillon Hammill began his PhD in the Cancer &Vascular Biology Group at JCSMR to identify potent combination immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer using flow cytometry. During his PhD, Dillon taught himself to code and developed CytoExploreR; a new open-source software package to facilitate rapid and reproducible analysis of high dimensional flow cytometry data. As a result of work completed during his PhD, Dillon is now working remotely as a Senior Computational Biologist at Ozette Technologies; an AI start-up company based in Seattle that aims to revolutionise the way that we analyse and explore large high dimensional single-cell datasets.
Friday 1 December
Dr Melina Georgousakis
Panel – Diversity, equity and inclusion
@Melina_Gee | @FranklinWomen
linkedin.com/in/melinageorgousakis/
Melina is a research scientist, a social entrepreneur and champion for an inclusive health and medical research sector. After a career in the lab she transitioned into a health policy career, then later joined the Bupa Health Foundation as their Research and Policy Manager. She is the founder of Franklin Women, a social enterprise which aims to create a science sector where women thrive and is currently leading the organisation as its Director. Melina has been recognised through awards such as Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers, ProBono Australia’s 25 People of Impact and Women’s Agenda Leadership Award. She is a judge for the Australian Technology Competition and the Australian Museum Eureka Awards. In 2019 she shared her story on the TEDx stage.
Prof Meredith NAsh
Panel – Diversity, equity and inclusion
@babybumpproject
Professor Meredith Nash is Associate Dean – Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion, and Equity in the College of Engineering, Computing, and Cybernetics at the Australian National University. She was formerly Senior Advisor – Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at the Australian Antarctic Division where she led the Nash Review of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Australian Antarctic Program. Meredith is a thought leader, researcher, and consultant who has driven enterprise-wide diversity, equity and inclusion strategies across multiple sectors. She has produced the majority of Australia’s social research into gender equity in STEMM and her work has shaped global conversations on workplace sexual harassment in extreme environments. She is also an accredited executive coach.
Dr John Noel Viana
Panel – Diversity, equity and inclusion
@John_Noel_Viana
linkedin.com/in/jnviana
John Noel Viana is a research fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University, where he investigates equity, diversity, and social justice issues in health research, promotion, and communication. He recently finished an ANU-CSIRO postdoc at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS) and the CSIRO Responsible Innovation Future Science Platform. He has a bachelor’s in molecular biology from the University of the Philippines, a master’s in neurosciences from VU University Amsterdam and Universite de Bordeaux, and a PhD in Neuroethics from the University of Tasmania. He has recently published book chapters on queering science communication and on communicating science on, to, and with racial minorities.
Penny Nesbitt
Your brain and your wellbeing
Penny has worked throughout Australia, Asia & the UK with higher education, public & private sector clients, delivering workshops, coaching, masterclasses & keynotes, and has appeared on national radio.
Based on studies in neuropsychology, and neuroleadership Penny leverages evidence backed skills and techniques, working with people to positively impact performance, leadership, culture & wellbeing.
In June 2017, she published her first book Culture 101: creating places where people thrive and profits grow.