Members

Nilmini Wickramasinghe, PhD, MBA, is the Professor and Optus chair of Digital Health at La Trobe University within the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. She also has held/holds honorary research professor positions at Epworth HealthCare, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, MCRI and Northern Health in Australia, The Cleveland Clinic in the US, DHBW in Germany and Harbin Insitute in China.  After completing 5 degrees at the University of Melbourne, she completed PhD studies at Case Western Reserve University, and later executive education at Harvard Business School, USA in Value-based HealthCare. For over 25 years, she has been actively, researching and teaching within the health informatics/digital health domain with over 400 scholarly publications, a patent, 30 books, numerous posters and book chapters and a very successful grant funding portfolio.  In 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt award for her outstanding contribution to digital health. Professor Wickramasinghe is the editor in chief of International Journal Networking and Virtual Organisations, published by InderScience. In addition, she is the editor of two book series in digital health 1) Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age, published by Springer 2) Analytics and AI for healthcare Delivery, published by CRC Routledge.

Find out more about Professor Wickramasinghe's research.

Professor Begoña Heras is the Head of the Structural Biology and Bacterial Pathogenesis laboratory and leads the Infection and Immunity Theme at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. Her specialist interest is in the area of infectious diseases with a focus on dissecting the protein machineries that drive bacterial infections. She has established a research program that  integrates structural biology, protein chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, to examine the structure and function of proteins that play central roles in bacterial diseases. Informed by the new mechanistic knowledge her laboratory develops inhibitors that  block bacterial pathogenesis, which represent a new  strategy that  promises to transform the way we treat bacterial infections that are no longer susceptible to antibiotics. Her research is regularly published in top ranking journals including Nature Communications, PNAS, Antioxid Redox Signal, Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, and J Biol Chem, and her work is consistently supported by ARC and NHMRC grant funding.

Find out more about Professor Heras's research.

Over the past 16 years Prof. Brian Abbey has been leading the development of new optical technologies for biological imaging employing techniques in coherent optics and nanotechnology. Brian obtained his PhD from Cambridge in 2007 and from 2014-2021 was a node leader of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Advanced Molecular Imaging. Brian's group comprises research in the areas of Optics, Nanofabrication, and X-ray science.

Since 2014 Brian has received more than $35 million in external funding as Chief Investigator (CI) from the ARC and NHMRC as well as external research contracts from facilities he manages. From 2014-2018 he was an ARC Future Fellow. In 2017 Brian received the Victorian Young Tall Poppy science award in recognition of his contribution to biophysics and scientific outreach activities. In 2018 he was accepted into the Medtech Actuator program for start-up companies and in 2019 Brian led a multidisciplinary team of researchers to win the national Medtech’s Got Talent (MTGT) award. In 2022 Brian led the team which won both the Australian Museum Eureka prize for the Innovative use of Technology and the Victoria Prize for Physical Sciences. He is the lead inventor on 5 national phase patents since 2017.

Brian’s research work in optics has so far produced > 130 research journal articles including having high-impact publications in Nature, Science, Nature Photonics (×2), Nature Physics, Nature Communications (×4), PNAS, Advanced Functional Materials (×2), and Physical Review Letters. Many of his papers have also been highlighted on journal covers. He is well-recognised within his field of optics and biophysics with invitations to give plenary/keynote talks at a number of major conferences (e.g. Gordon Research Conference and SPIE) as well as conference/workshop organisation and international grant reviewing roles (e.g US DoE). He also has an exceptional track-record in using funding to support and mentor young scientists and early career researchers with 12 PhD graduations as primary supervisor over the past four years with 6 current PhD students.

Find out more about Professor Abbey's research.

My research focuses on understanding the causes of chronic kidney disease. Specifically, I am interested in how to stop the progression of kidney disease. Current therapies only slow the progression of kidney disease, but how can we regenerate the kidney so that patients no longer need dialysis or a kidney transplant? The aim of my research is to investigate the contributions of the immune system to the progression of kidney disease, and create novel therapies that target the immune system to regenerate the kidney.

Find out more about Dr Huuskes's research.

Colleen is a teaching and research academic.  She is an Associate Professor in Physiology and Head, Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology. She is also a Division Head in the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research at the University. Colleen obtained her PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, examining the influence of natriuretic peptides on cardiac reflexes in normal health, cardiovascular disease models and aging. She has expertise in instrumenting small and large animals for integrated cardiovascular physiological recordings in acute and chronic study settings (eg., blood pressure, heart rate, regional (organ) blood flow). She uses biochemical and molecular analyses to elucidate mechanisms of action.  A significant post-doctoral research interest has been to develop novel strategies and therapies to treat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.  Functional components of diet to prevent / reverse chronic disease (especially CVD/ diabetes) are also a significant recent focus of her lab (anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant mechanisms of action; role of the gut microbiome). Colleen’s research is evidenced by multi-disciplinary collaborations to translate findings from basic research through to clinical trials and successful industry partnerships.

Find out about Associate Professor Thomas's research.

Dr Cristina Keightley's laboratory studies the transcriptional regulation of myeloid development and disease using zebrafish and mouse models to discover and understand molecular pathways in haematopoietic development. Within this context, we examine the role of transcription factors and mRNA splicing regulators, employing a multi-disciplinary approach integrating molecular genetics, biochemistry, genomics, and proteomics.

Find out more about Dr Keightley's research.

He holds several editorial board appointments in high-impact journals. He is the recipient of diverse International awards and honours including the AMMA Medal (molecular modelling), RACI Distinguished Fellowship, Herman Skolnik award from the American Chemical Society (informatics), the Adrien Albert award of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (medicinal chemistry), the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) Distinguished Fellowship (bioengineering), the CRC for Polymers Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Commercialisation (drug design), and the CSIRO Medal for Business Excellence..

An important aspect of his research has involved dissecting the quantitative structure-activity method, rebuilding it with modern mathematical and artificial intelligence methods, and adapting evolutionary approaches to the design of bioactive molecules and materials for diagnostics, therapeutics, and regeneration. Some of the technology arising from this was licenced to Bio-RAD Corporation. He has also provided key intellectual property for three start up biotechnology companies. He was a foundation member of the CSIRO complex systems science group and established and published seminal cited papers in this field.  His most recent work involves modelling the interactions of materials with biology, particularly the ability of materials surface chemistry, physicochemical properties and topographies to modulate cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation, and the design of small molecule and peptides to modulate protein-protein interactions as drug leads.

Dave was a Director of Caulfield and Malvern Grammar School Boards, a Fellow, Board Chair and Honorary General Secretary of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a Director and member of the Board Executive of Science and Technology Australia, a member of the Australian Academy of Science's National Committee for Chemistry, member of the Board, Past President and Fellow of the Asian Federation for Medicinal Chemistry, and of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies. He also served on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry nomenclature committee and is the Australian representative on the Pacifichem organising committee.

Find out more about Professor Winkler's research.

I am interested in the surfaces of semiconductor crystals, particulaly diamond, and how they react to the world around and within us. My research involves coating these surfaces with organic and metallo-organic compounds observing the change their electrical and optical properties, particularly in ways which can be useful for engineering implantable biosensors for medical assays.

My other interest springs from a deep commitment to the dissimenation of knowlege through teaching, which I regard as a process of coaching. This includes research into ways of making this coaching possible (and efficient) in a mass tertiary education system, primarily through combining the modern educational psychology with information technology.

Find out more about Dr Hoxley's research.

Dr Emma Grant is an ARC DECRA Fellow working at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. Dr Grant completed her PhD studies, “Understanding immune responses to Influenza viruses” in 2015 at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Prof. Katherine Kedzierska. In 2015, she was awarded a competitive NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship (funding 2016-2019, delated until 2020 due to maternity leave), undertaking her first 2 years at Cardiff University in Wales, UK, under the mentorship or Prof. David Price. She then returned to Australia in Jan 2018 to work at Monash University, firstly within the Rossjohn Laboratory under Prof. Jamie Rossjohn, and then in the newly established Gras laboratory under the mentorship of A/Prof. Stephanie Gras. In 2020 she was awarded an ARC DECRA Fellowship (funding 2021-2023) and relocated to La Trobe University with her supervisor and mentor Prof Stephanie Gras. Her interests remain within anti-viral immunity and her research focuses on understanding key correlates of immune protection against different viral infections.

Find out more about Dr Grant's research.

Professor Arumugam obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Science with Honors from the University of Sydney in 1998 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology from the University of Queensland in 2003. He completed post-doctoral training at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, USA, under Professor Neil Granger, and at the National Institute of Health, Baltimore, USA, under Professor Mark Mattson. Establishing his independent laboratory at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in 2007, he later transitioned to The University of Queensland (UQ) as a Senior Lecturer, focusing on CNS neurodegeneration and ischemic stroke. In 2011, he was honored with the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship. He was appointed Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore in 2013 and subsequently joined La Trobe University in March 2020.

Professor Arumugam’s research is primarily dedicated to unraveling neuronal cell death mechanisms in stroke and vascular dementia, with an emphasis on identifying novel therapeutic targets. Furthermore, his investigations extend to exploring the impact of intermittent metabolic switching on brain aging and related diseases. His contributions have appeared in journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Circulation, PNAS, Molecular Psychiatry, Theranostics, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Communications. With over 195 articles and three book chapters, his work has garnered over 22,000 citations (Google Scholar) and he maintains an h-index of 78.

Find out more about Professor Arumugam's research.

Grant Drummond is a Professor of Physiology and Co-director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research (CCBDR) at La Trobe University. He also serves as Associate Dean Partnerships for the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment. Grant's research is in the area of cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease with a specific focus on understanding the roles of oxidative stress, the immune system and the gut microbiome in promoting the vascular, cardiac and renal inflammation that contributes to these conditions. Grant's work has provided novel insights into the roles of NADPH oxidase-derived reactive oxygen species as signalling molecules under physiological conditions, and mediators of oxidative damage in vascular disease. His studies have also shed new light on the involvement of both innate (e.g. NLRP3 inflammasome, interleukin-18), and adaptive (B cells, autoantibodies) immune signalling pathways in the development of hypertension and kidney damage. More recently, Grant's team have been exploring the relationship between gut health and cardiovascular disease, with a particular focus on the gut virome. His work is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the Heart Foundation of Australia.

Find out more about Professor Drummond's research.

Helen Irving is a Professor in Biomedical Sciences and is a member of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS). Helen's current research centres on understanding inflammatory signals at the molecular level to develop new and improved approaches to managing inflammatory conditions.

Helen obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from The University of Melbourne and conducted post-doctoral work at Vanderbilt University (USA) and The University of Kentucky (USA) before returning to Australia to take up an ARC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at La Trobe University. For most of her career, she has been a teaching/research academic based at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University. Helen moved to the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS) at La Trobe University in 2017.

Find out more about Professor Irving's research.

Professor Joseph Tucci is a registered practicing pharmacist and Pharmacy Discipline Lead, in the La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo. Professor Tucci has a background in developmental biology, having completed his PhD at the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, Melbourne, and subsequently taken up a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester, U.K.

His past research work has included the generation of transgenic animal models for the study of homeobox genes and other developmental factors. Some of his current research interests include:
a)The genetic influences on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medicinal drugs, especially in relation to traditional and indigenous populations  
b)The use of bacteriophage as alternatives to antibiotics
c)Genomic applications in the elucidation of microbial ecology in waste water treatment

Find out more about Professor Tucci's research.

Viruses infect all living organisms, and our laboratory studies the early host response to viral infections in humans, and other mammalian and non-mammalian animal hosts. Specifically Professor Karla Helbig's group is interested in understanding what is involved in an effective host cell antiviral response with a particular focus on interferon, the downstream interferon genes that it regulates, lipids and lipid droplets. Her team aims to understand how these combined factors contribute to viral clearance in alternate cell types.

Her group has developed multiple novel technologies in the areas of advanced live time imaging, lipid detection, lipid droplet extraction, ‘omic techniques, the creation of artificial lipid droplets and immune priming. With the use of both cellular and animal models, their research aims to utilise these advanced tools towards the development of next generation antiviral therapeutics to combat viral infection in both humans and animals.

Find out more about Professor Helbig's research.

After one year post-PhD in an administrative support role within the University of Tasmania, I joined La Trobe University as a teaching and research lecturer in mid 2000.  I have been contributing in these fields ever since, with two ARC fellowships (APD, then Future Fellow) along the way, as well as teaching across first year through every year to fifth year level in the mathematical sciences.  At the upper levels this has been predominantly in algebra, discrete mathematics and mathematics near the boundary with theoretical computer science, including twice at the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute national summer school.  At undergraduate level, my teaching has covered almost all areas within mathematics.

My research lies predominantly in algebra and its interaction with logic, combinatorics and theoretical computer science, and in addition to the two ARC fellowships above, has been supported by one further ARC Discovery Project, as lead CI.  You can get more of an idea from my publications under the "research outputs" tab, but you can find more nuanced information, ahead-of-publication preprints, and in-progress work on my personal webpage; see link on the left of this page.  I am also leader of the Research Group in General Algebra and Its Application, which has hosted numerous conferences within LTU, including the international conference GAIA2013 (General Algebra and Its Applications), and USMaC2016 (Universal Structures in Mathematics and Computing), and has hosted a regular seminar series since 2000.

I was Deputy Director of the Discipline Research Program in Mathematics and Computing for its duration (2014-2017), Director of Research and Industry Engagement (2019-2021) and now Associate Dean RIE (2022-) for the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, where I am also the Director of Graduate Research (since 2018).

Find out more about Profesor Jackson's research.

I am a NHMRC L2 Investigator, an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and a former Broomhead Centenary Fellow.

I completed my PhD and first postdoctoral studies at the University of Würzburg, Germany, where I trained in cell death research and mouse genetics. During this time, I worked with the German Pharma Company Taconic Artemis developing methods to establish novel pre-clinical models of disease.

In 2008, I moved to Australia and joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) where I served as a Laboratory Head in the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division and Head of the Melbourne Genome Editing Centre (MAGEC). My research team specialised in applying CRISPR gene editing techniques to identify critical gene targets required for the development and sustained growth of cancer cells. Recent findings identified DNA repair as fundamental for TP53-mediated tumour suppression (Janic et al., Nature Medicine 2018).

My current research is focused on using advanced genome wide CRISPR screening, including gene activation and base editing in vitro and in vivo (Deng et al., Nature Communications, 2022). At ONJCRI we use these research techniques to amplify the research conducted within all our labs to discover drug resistance factors and targets that enhance immune therapies.

Since joining ONJCRI in 2023, my primary role as CEO of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) is to steer our Institute towards a new phase of growth and impact by achieving our strategic priorities. This includes fostering collaborations both within ONJCRI and with external entities while capitalising on existing strengths, assets, and successes of ONJCRI.

Find out more about Professor Herald's research.

Prof Hulett completed his doctoral studies in 1994 at The University of Melbourne in on immune cell receptors in inflammation and allergy. He was awarded an NHMRC Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Fellowship (1995-1998) to continue his work on immune receptors at the Austin Research Institute. Prof Hulett moved to the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) at The Australian National University in 1999 where he cloned the heparan sulphate-degrading enzyme heparanase and described its important role in inflammatory disease and cancer. Following the awarding of a Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship in 2002, Prof Hulett established an independent laboratory at the JCSMR to study molecular aspects of immune and tumour cell migration. In 2008 Prof Hulett moved his research group to the Department of Biochemistry at La Trobe University. His current research interests include inflammation and the tumour microenvironment, as well as the mechanism of action and therapeutic application of host defense peptides. Prof Hulett’s research has a strong translational focus and he has collaborated with a number of biotechnology companies including Progen Industries Ltd and Hexima Ltd. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers that have attracted 10,000+ citations, as well being lead inventor on 6 patents, and his research has been recognized with a number of awards including the Howard Florey Medal and the inaugural ACT Tall Poppy Science Award. Prof Hulett is a passionate advocate for science and medical research having been a Past-president of the Australian Society of Medical Research (ASMR) (2008) and is a current member of the ASMR National Policy Advisory Committee (2009-). He has previously held the positions of Research Director (2015-2016) and Deputy Director (2017-2019) of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science at La Trobe University. Prof Hulett is the current Head of Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry at La Trobe University (2019-).

Find out more about Proessor Hulett's research.

Our research focuses on creating, understanding and controlling materials at the nanometer scale. We have a strong focus on surface science, in particular, exploring chemical and molecular properties and processes at surfaces and at interfaces.

Our group's research interests include:

• Understanding molecular interactions at surfaces,
• Bio-surface characterisation,
• Nano-particle drug delivery and
• The surface science of minerals, glasses and other industrially relevant systems.

Our group works with around 25 universities, 5 government laboratories and 50 companies in Australia and abroad. His group hosts a comprehensive surface science capability including XPS, ToF-SIMS, SPM, AES/SAM and contact angle analysis, supported by a state-of-the art visualisation and instrument remote access facility.

Find out more about Professor Pigrams's research.

A/Prof. Seb Dworkin completed his PhD in 2008 at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, investigating the mechanisms governing neural development in both zebrafish and mouse, as well as the transcriptional control of neural stem cells. He then joined Prof. Stephen Jane's group at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, investigating developmental processes regulated by the highly conserved Grainyhead-like family of transcription factors. Dr. Dworkin moved to Monash University to continue his work under Prof. Jane's mentorship in 2011. He was awarded an Australian Research Council Early Career Fellowship (DECRA), and was successful in obtaining a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant, both in 2014, to fund his work on mechanisms of gastrulation, craniofacial development, and neurulation/neural morphogenesis. In 2016, A/Prof. Dworkin took up a Lecturer/Group Leader position at La Trobe University, in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology. His group's current work is focused on identifying conserved transcription factor function in both mouse and zebrafish in order to best provide prognostic indicators for how these factors may regulate human development. In 2023 he was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, and in 2024, he was appointed as the Discipline lead for Physiology and Pharmacology.

Find out more about Associate Professor Dworkin's research.

Our laboratory is focused on understanding how to combat viral infections.

Viruses are part of day-to-day encounters that our immune system needs to deal with. How the immune system “sees”, recognises and eliminates viral infection is not fully understood.

Indeed, viruses are able to mutate in order to escape the immune system surveillance. If we were to develop better vaccine and drugs, it is essential to understand the mechanism of viral recognition and viral escape prior to this.

Our lab combines both the cellular and structural approaches to understand the immune system action when face with a viral infection.

Find out more about Associate Professor Dworkin's research.

Professor Wei Xiang is Cisco Research Chair of AI and IoT (Internet of Things), Director & Chief Scientist of the Australian Centre for AI in Medical Innovation, and Founding Director of Cisco-La Trobe Centre for AI and Internet of Things (https://www.latrobe.edu.au/aiot).

Prior to joining in La Trobe, he was Foundation Chair and Head of Discipline of Internet of Things Engineering at James Cook University, Cairns, Australia. Due to his instrumental leadership in establishing Australia’s first accredited Internet of Things Engineering degree program, he was selected into Pearcy Foundation’s Hall of Fame in October 2018. He is an elected Fellow of the IET in UK and Engineers Australia. He received the La Trobe Research Excellence Award in 2021, Pearcey Entrepreneurship Award in 2017, Engineers Australia Cairns Engineer of the Year in 2017, and TNQ Innovation Award in 2016. He has been awarded several prestigious fellowship titles, including a Queensland International Fellowship, an Endeavour Research Fellowship, a Smart Futures Fellow, and a JSPS Invitational Fellow. He was the Vice Chair of the IEEE Northern Australia Section from 2016-2020. He is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Access, and Nature journal of Scientific Reports. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers including 3 books and nearly 300 journal articles. He as the General Chair of the 1st IEEE Annual Congress on AIoT in 2024. He has been selected into Stanford University's Top 2% Scientists list for four consecutive years (2020-2023).

Find out more about Professor Xiang's research.