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- Alistair Brown
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- Associate Professor Matthew Ritchie
- Associate Professor Melissa Call
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- Associate Professor Oliver Sieber
- Associate Professor Peter Czabotar
- Associate Professor Rachel Wong
- Associate Professor Rhys Allan
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- Associate Professor Sandra Nicholson
- Associate Professor Seth Masters
- Associate Professor Sumitra Ananda
- Associate Professor Tim Thomas
- Associate Professor Tracy Putoczki
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- A new regulator of 'stemness' to create dendritic cell factories for immunotherapy
- Advanced imaging interrogation of pathogen induced NETosis
- Cancer driver deserts
- Cryo-electron microscopy of Wnt signalling complexes
- Deciphering the heterogeneity of breast cancer at the epigenetic and genetic levels
- Developing drugs to block malaria transmission
- Developing new computational tools for CRISPR genomics to advance cancer research
- Developing novel antibody-based methods for regulating apoptotic cell death
- Discovering novel paradigms to cure viral and bacterial infections
- Discovery and targeting of novel regulators of transcription
- Dissecting host cell invasion by the diarrhoeal pathogen Cryptosporidium
- Do membrane forces govern assembly of the deadly apoptotic pore?
- Doublecortin-like kinases, drug targets in cancer and neurological disorders
- E3 ubiquitin ligases in neurodegeneration, autoinflammation and cancer
- Engineering improved CAR-T cell therapies
- Epigenetic biomarkers of tuberculosis infection
- Exploiting cell death pathways in regulatory T cells for cancer immunotherapy
- Finding treatments for chromatin disorders of intellectual disability
- Functional epigenomics in human B cells
- Genomic rearrangement detection with third generation sequencing technology
- How does DNA damage shape disease susceptibility over a lifetime?
- How does DNA hypermutation shape the development of solid tumours?
- How platelets prevent neonatal stroke
- Human lung protective immunity to tuberculosis
- Interaction with Toxoplasma parasites and the brain
- Interactions between tumour cells and their microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer
- Investigating the role of dysregulated Tom40 in neurodegeneration
- Investigating the role of mutant p53 in cancer
- Lupus: proteasome inhibitors and inflammation
- Machine learning methods for somatic genome rearrangement detection
- Malaria: going bananas for sex
- Measurements of malaria parasite and erythrocyte membrane interactions using cutting-edge microscopy
- Measuring susceptibility of cancer cells to BH3-mimetics
- Minimising rheumatic adverse events of checkpoint inhibitor cancer therapy
- Mutational signatures of structural variation
- Naturally acquired immune response to malaria parasites
- Predicting the effect of non-coding structural variants in cancer
- Revealing the epigenetic origins of immune disease
- Reversing antimalarial resistance in human malaria parasites
- Structural and functional analysis of DNA repair complexes
- Targeting human infective coronaviruses using alpaca antibodies
- Towards targeting altered glial biology in high-grade brain cancers
- Uncovering the real impact of persistent malaria infections
- Understanding Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells
- Understanding how malaria parasites sabotage acquisition of immunity
- Understanding malaria infection dynamics
- Understanding the mechanism of type I cytokine receptor activation
- Unveiling the heterogeneity of small cell lung cancer
- Using alpaca antibodies to understand malaria invasion and transmission
- Using combination immunotherapy to tackle heterogeneous brain tumours
- Using intravital microscopy for immunotherapy against brain tumours
- Using nanobodies to cross the blood brain barrier for drug delivery
- Using structural biology to understand programmed cell death
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Gender equity in action
An equitable and diverse workforce drives innovation
Our Institute is aware of the challenges experienced by women in science. Although women have made up the majority of biology undergraduates for decades, progress towards parity at senior levels has been slow.
Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of women in the Institute’s senior scientific positions.
The Institute has advanced progress towards gender equality in the workplace with initiatives and policies including:
- Family friendly meeting times
- Equal representation of women and men presenting at Institute symposia and sponsored events
- Supporting trans and gender diverse people in the Institute
- Workplace response to domestic and family violence
- Parental leave
Our Institute, our sector, our community
Institute staff and students are part of a number of programs to achieve gender equity across our Institute, our sector and our community. These initiatives complement each other in several areas such as measurement and accountability, flexibility in the workplace and raising the profile of women in science.
Athena SWAN
National – Science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)
The Athena SWAN charter and accreditation aims to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). Australia’s Athena SWAN pilot is a two-year program that has been established by the Science in Australian Gender Equity (SAGE) program, an initiative of the Australian Academy of Science.
- National accreditation for STEMM institutions, part of an international initiative
- Recognises institutions demonstrating a competitive edge in attracting the best scientists
- Addresses improvement of gender equity policies and practices
- Uses an evidence based approach to identify key gender equity issues and develop an action plan to tackle the problem areas
- Gives specific focus to how gender intersects with minority characteristics such as cultural background and gender identity
- Improves gender equity and bolsters women in leadership roles
Members of the Institute's Athena SWAN self-assessment team (SAT) have been collecting and analysing data and other evidence to understand gender equity across a range of indicators using mechanisms including workshops, surveys, interviews, policy review and analysis, and database interrogation.
The Institute's Gender Action Plan is based on the data and evidence collected by the SAT. The plan addresses issues and gaps with specific and measurable action, in order to drive forward progress towards gender equality in our workplace.
In December 2019, the Institute’s commitments to addressing gender inequality, supporting diversity and creating an inclusive workplace culture were recognised with a prestigious Athena SWAN Bronze Award from SAGE. The Institute was one of only 15 higher education and research institutions in Australia to receive the award at a ceremony conferred by Ms Nicolle Flint MP at Parliament House in Canberra.
Put your hand up for action
The Athena SWAN program requires institutes to accept the ten charter principles – we are taking it one step further.
We have asked our staff and students to endorse the principles and put them into action by becoming an Athena SWAN Advocate (ASA).
Athena Swan Advocates commit to:
- Promote the Athena SWAN program.
- Call out sexist behavior wherever it occurs.
- Support 50:50 gender representation, if not, why not.
Male Champions of Change Victoria
State – all industries
- State-based, high profile coalition across multiple industries, part of a national initiative
- Influential male corporate, government and community leaders leading on gender equity through action and advocacy
- Collaborations and resource development to enact high impact change
- Five areas of change:
- Measurement and accountability
- Personal leadership
- Everyday sexism
- Flexible work
- Prevention of violence against women
Institute director Professor Doug Hilton is our representative on the Victorian Male Champions of Change. The Institute, along with other member organisations, is producing an action plan to implement the five areas of change.
Women in Science Parkville Precinct (WiSPP)
Local – medical research
- Local initiative involving five medical research institutes
- Promotes an environment that enables more women in science to lead and excel
- Challenges the status quo, aims to increase the profile of women in key roles
- A platform for change and empowerment
Associate Professor Seth Masters, Dr Jo Hildebrand and Dr Libby Kruse represent the Institute at WiSPP meetings. Along with regular seminars and discussion forums promoting women in science, the initiative is collating data across the five participating institutes to measure the impact of gender equity activities.