The following eminent speakers will feature in the conference program:
Carolyn Behm
Carolyn Behm holds a BSc in zoology and cell biology and a
PhD in parasite biochemistry from the Australian National
University, where she is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer
in the School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Carolyn's
major research activities have been in parasite biochemistry
and in host pathophysiology, but have turned more recently
to functional genomics of nematodes, using Caenorhabditis
elegans as a model for the parasitic nematodes.
Carole Charlier
Carole Charlier was born in 1964 in Spa, Belgium. She obtained
her degree of Doctor in Veterinary Medicine from the University
of Liege in June 1988. After one year of vet practice, she
switched to research in Genetics, in the Department of Animal
Production with Prof Roger Hanset and then Prof Michel Georges.
Her PhD thesis "Using genetic linkage analysis to map
monogenic traits in cattle" was realized under their
supervision. In 1996, she moved to Utah for a Post-Doc in
the Department of Human Genetics with Prof Mark Leppert. After
two years of research on inherited epilepsy of newborns, she
returned to Belgium. Since then, she has been working on the
callipyge project in the team of Michel Georges.
Sean Chung
Completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in 1999-2001, majoring
in Microbiology and Immunology. Received the Peter J Doos
award in 2002 and completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours)
the same year under the supervision of Dr.Damian Purcell;
receiving the Roy and Iris Simmons award and a place on the
Dean's Honours List for highest-ranked honours thesis in the
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, entitled 'HIV-1
Gene Silencing Using Short Interfering RNA (siRNA)'. Commenced
a Doctor of Philosophy in 2003, again under the supervision
of Dr. Damian Purcell, after receiving competitive funding
in the form of an Australian Postgraduate Award.
Ben Cocks
Dr Cocks recently (March 2004) became Director of Research
Director, Animal Genetics and Genomics at PIRVic (Primary
Industries Research Victoria). He is an expert in the development
and effective application of genomics and new technologies
relevant to biological discovery. His recent work at Incyte
Corporation had focused on the determination of protein function
in different organisms, leveraging the interface between biology
and other sciences. Dr Cocks has extensive experience with
microarrays, bioinformatics, proteomics, and the application
of RNA interference.
Dr Cocks was trained in Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne, where he made significant contributions with Dr Lloyd Finch to the discovery of new metabolic pathways, new enzyme activities (Cocks et al. 1985 J. Gen. Microbiol. 131, 2129-2135), and genomic structure in infectious Mycoplasma (Cocks et al. Nuc. Acid. Res. 17, 6713-6719), including the first physical maps of bacteria after E. coli (Pyle et al. 1988 Nuc. Acid. Res. 16, 6015-6025).
Dr Cocks subsequently contributed to knowledge of transcription regulation, cell-cycling (Cocks et al. 1992 J.Biol.Chem. 267, 12307-12310), and models of immune cell function (Hamilton et al. 1991 Blood 77, 616-627) in positions at the University of Melbourne and at DNAX Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA. At DNAX, Dr Cocks participated in the discovery of new pathways in lymphocyte biology central to allergic and inflammatory diseases. These included the discovery of IL-13 (McKenzie et al. 1993 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 3735-3739) and its activity as a switch factor for IgE production in human B cells (Cocks et al. 1993 Int. Immunol. 5, 657-663; Punnonen et al. 1993 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 90, 3730-3734), as well as the identification of SLAM as a key signaling receptor important for T and B cell interaction and activation (Cocks et. al.1995 Nature 376, 260-263). Dr Cocks also independently cloned and functionally characterized the human CD40 ligand (Cocks et al. 1993 Int. Immunol. 5, 657-663) and other molecules expressed by activated human T cells. At DNAX Dr Cocks also contributed to the development of high-throughput screens based on mammalian cell systems.
At Incyte Corporation (Palo Alto, CA, USA) Dr Cocks established a group that combined expertise in microarrays, applied bioinformatics, mammalian cell biology, gene expression manipulation, genetics, and proteomics to unravel disease mechanisms and to identify and validate new drug targets. In the Drug Discovery division, he had responsibility for validating and developing proprietary small molecule targets and antibody targets. He managed a substantial Pharmaceutical company partnership for the development of antibody therapeutics. Responsibilities also included managing industry defining functional biology collaborations and working with business development to establish workable discovery initiatives.
Shaun Coffey
Shaun Coffey has been foundation Chief of CSIRO Livestock
Industries since June 2000. He also holds the position of
Adjunct Professor in the School of Veterinary Sciences, and
the School of Animal Studies, in the University of Queensland,
and sits on several Cooperative Research Centre Boards, and
the Board of Food Science Australia. Following postgraduate
studies in agronomy, Shaun worked in both the private and
public sector prior to joining CSIRO in 1995. His research
interests include science and technology, systems theory and
learning theory applied to innovative systems. In the late
80s Shaun was Executive Director for the Cattlemen's Union
of Australia. From 1990-1995 he was a member of the senior
management team of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.
Shaun lives in Brisbane with his wife, Rebecca, and family.
His interests include reading, gardening, golf and rugby union.
Brian Dalrymple
Brian Dalrymple is a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO
Livestock Industries. Here he leads the Bioinformatics group,
with a particular focus on the bovine genome, comparative
mammalian genomics, non-coding RNAs, gene expression and peptide-based
protein-protein interaction motifs. Brian has a broad background
in molecular biology and bioinformatics, including the development
of a novel antimicrobial based analysis of microbial genome
sequences, the construction of recombinant rumen bacteria
and recombinant Babesia and footrot vaccines. Brian and his
team are contributing to the international Bovine genome project,
as well as providing access to genome annotation to Australian
researchers and colleagues in CSIRO.
Michael de Veer
Michael de Veer began his research
career at Monash University in Victoria where he
graduated with a PhD from the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology. Michael worked on interferon
induced gene expression in the laboratory of Dr Stephen Ralph.
Following his PhD he undertook post-doctoral
studies in Dr Bryan Williams Laboratory at the Lerner Research
Institute in Cleveland Ohio, USA. Here he worked on signalling
pathways activated by dsRNA and interferon. Following Michael's post-doctoral
studies in the USA, he was awarded an NHMRC Howard
Florey Fellowship and work with Dr Louis Schofield at the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute where he continued to
study innate immune biology and how it related to pathogenic
organisms.
Christophe Echeverri
Dr. Echeverri’s training as a molecular cell biologist
began with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biology at the University
of Ottawa (Canada), followed by a Ph.D. in Cell Biology at
the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (Worcester,
MA). In 1998, he joined Prof. Anthony Hyman at the EMBL (Heidelberg,
Germany) where he initiated and co-directed the first systematic
genome-scale RNAi screening project. The early success of
this pilot established the first proof of principle for genome-wide
RNAi-based screening, and led Dr. Echeverri to co-found Cenix
BioScience in 1999 as the very first RNAi-focused company.
Fulfilling CEO and CSO duties, he has since led the build-up
of the Dresden-based company to become one of the world’s
premier specialists in genome-based high throughput applications
of RNAi for therapeutic drug discovery. Earlier this year,
Dr. Echeverri was recognized by MIT’s Technology Review
as one of the world’s Top 100 Young Innovators of 2003,
for his contributions in driving the development of RNAi-based
genomics. Dr. Echeverri continues to serve as CEO and CSO
of Cenix BioScience today.
Jef Hammond
Dr Jef Hammond is a virologist with expertise in developing
viral vector delivery systems for vaccines and investigating
the nature of immune responses to viral diseases. Jef is a
Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO's Australian Animal Health
Laboratory with broad ranging experience in the areas of diagnosis,
epidemiology, immunology and molecular biology. Before coming
to Australia, Jef worked for more than 15 years at the Institute
for Animal Health, Pirbright, U.K., gaining expertise in a
number of exotic viral diseases of livestock, including Foot-and-mouth
disease, Capripox (Sheep and goat pox and Lumpy skin disease)
and African swine fever.
Chris Helliwell
Chris Helliwell is a senior research scientist at CSIRO Plant
Industry, Canberra. He received his PhD in plant science from
Cambridge University. In 1995 he was awarded a postdoctoral
fellowship from the Royal Society to work at CSIRO Plant Industry
where he has remained since. His research interests include
the application of RNAi in plant functional genomics, the
biosynthesis and action of the plant hormone gibberellic acid,
the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the control of plant
development and peptide signalling in plants. Chris has published
widely in high impact journals and was awarded the Science
Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year in 2003.
Marielle van Hulten
Dr Marielle van Hulten is a Post Doctoral fellow with CSIRO
Livestock Industries based at the Queensland Bioscience Precinct,
Brisbane, Queensland. From 1996 till 2003 Marielle obtained
her PhD and headed a research group on white spot syndrome
virus (WSSV) of shrimp in the Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen
University, the Netherlands. The research resolved the genetic
and protein composition of WSSV. The first viral vaccine for
shrimp was developed providing evidence for the presence of
an adaptive immune response in invertebrates. In 2003 Marielle
joined the Aquatic Animal Health research team at CSIRO, where
her research concentrates on the use of RNA interference to
battle a range of prawn viruses.
Stuart Kellie
Stuart Kellie received his PhD from University of St. Andrews
in 1980, followed by postdoc positions at University of Leicester
and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories (London).
From 1986-1990 he was a lecturer in Biochemistry at the Royal
College of Surgeons of England, and from1990-2002 he was Group
Leader at the Yamanouchi Research Institute (Oxford). He currently
holds a joint appointment at University of Queensland as Senior
Lecturer in Immunology and Group Leader at the Institute for
Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia, and is also a Programme Leader in the Cooperative
Research Centre for Chronic Inflammatory Diseases.
Frank Koentgen
Dr Frank Koentgen is the founder, Director and CEO of Ozgene
Pty Ltd, a global provider of genetically modified mice and
rats. Dr Koentgen undertook his Ph.D. at the Max-Planck Institute,
Germany and Roche Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland. He established
and headed the Genetically Modified Mouse Laboratory at the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) after his postdoctoral
at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in the US. Dr
Koentgen was the first to produce and publish C57BL/6 knockout
mice in 1993. He is a co-inventor of the lentiviral transgenic
technology and has published in Nature, Science, Immunity,
PNAS, Nature Medicine, etc.
John Mattick
Professor Mattick is the foundation Professor of Molecular
Biology and the Director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience
at the University of Queensland, Professor Mattick was born
in Sydney and did this degree at the University of Sydney
(1972), followed by a PhD at Monash University (1977). He
has subsequently worked at Baylor College of Medical in Houston
(1977-81), at the CSIRO Division of Molecular Biology in Sydney
(1982-88), as well as at the University of Cambridge (1993),
the University of Oxford (2000) and the University of Cologne
(2002). He joined the University of Queensland in 1988, and
is married with three sons.
Professor Mattick's research interests are in the molecular genetics of bacterial pathogenesis and the role of noncoding RNA in the evolution and development of complex organisms. He has published over 120 scientific papers. He has recently developed a new theory of the structure of genetic information in the higher organisms, which may explain the purpose of the so-called junk DNA in the human genome as the control architecture from human development.
Michael Michael
Dr. Michael Michael received his Ph.D., in genetics, at the
University of Melbourne. He was a founding researcher at the
plant biotechnology company, Florigene Ltd., where the then
emerging technology known as cosuppression (now RNA interference)
was used to create flower varieties with improved post-harvest
characteristics and novel colours.
In 1998, Michael moved to the Dept. Gastroenterology at Flinders Medical Centre (Adelaide) where he works as a Medical Scientist, examining epigenetic factors and changes in gene expression that are associated with colorectal cancer. He has been studying the expression of genes encoding chromatin-modifying proteins and, more recently, microRNAs in the intestinal epithelium.
Carl Novina
Carl Novina completed his Ph.D. in 1998 at Tufts University
Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Science. He then went
on to complete his M.D. at Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons in 2000. Carl is now a Post-doctoral
Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center
for Cancer Research. He is working in Nobel Laureate Dr. Phillip
Sharp's lab, where his research interest is on mechanisms
of gene silencing by RNA interference.
Ken Reed
Ken Reed is Director of Research and Technology with Benitec
Australia Ltd, a subsidiary of the listed biotech company
Benitec Ltd. He co-founded what is now the Benitec group of
companies in 1997 to develop and commercialise discoveries
made by colleagues at DPI's Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology
Centre during his tenure as the Centre's Director. Prominent
among those discoveries were technologies for inducing post-transcriptional
gene silencing in mammalian cells, an extraordinary natural
phenomenon that we now know as RNA interference and for which
Benitec and CSIRO jointly hold the first issued patents in
the US and UK. Before joining DPI in 1991 He was engaged in
research on mammalian molecular genetics, leading him into
DNA fingerprinting, forensic archaeology and the mechanism
of primary sex determination. In 1986 this work led him to
co-found a biotech company focused on livestock reproductive
technologies that became the world's first commercial user
of PCR and the first commercial implementer of cloning technology,
by embryo splitting. His energies are now concentrated on
developing the full potential of RNAi as a discovery and validation
toolbox and as a therapeutic platform for life-threatening
diseases.
John Rossi
Dr.Rossi received hes doctoral training at the University
of Connecticut in Storrs under the guidance of Dr. Claire
Berg where he studied the genetics and biochemistry of proline
secretion and indirect suppression of proline biosynthetic
mutants in E. coli. He received his doctorate in 1976 in Microbial
Genetics.
For postdoctoral training Dr. Rossi went to Brown University Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island where he trained under Dr. Anthur Landy. His studies led to the elucidation of the genomic structure and organisation of two gene clusters encoding tRNA-tyrosine in E. coli. This research led to the first observation that the tRNA gene cluster was co-transcribed with and subsequently processed from a mRNA.
In 1980 Dr. Rossi moved to the Department of Molecular Genetics at the City in Duarte, Califomia. His initial studies, in collaboration with Dr Keiichi Itakura involved uses of synthetic DNA for studies of gene regulations. Work during this period led to synthesis and testing of a consensus sequence promoter, precise deletion of testing of the intron from the yeast ACT gene, and characterisation of the cis-encoded signals for splicing in the yeast ACT intron. In 1986 his research program moved in part to studies of HIV infection where one of the early accomplishments of this period was the development of a quantitative RNA based polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of HIV in human sera. This research resulted in the first published report of an RNA based PCR detection of HIV-1 in AIDS patient blood samples.
As an outgrowth of his interest in RNA processing, Dr.Rossi's laboratory began to develop and test the idea of utilising catalytic RNA's or ribozymes for inhibition of HIV infection. This research program has led to two clinical trials in which ribozyme genes have been transduced into hematopoietic stem cells for autologous transplant in HIV infected individuals. Work in the laboratory continues to focus upon enhancing the intracellular efficacy of ribozymes and RNA decoys via RNA trafficking and target colocalization approaches. At present a large percentage of the research effort of the lab is focussed upon the biology and utilization of small interfering RNA's, or siRNA. His research group was the to show inhibition of HIV-1 using RNA interference.
Paula Stein
Dr. Paula Stein got both her B.S. and her Ph.D. in Biological
Chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina
where she trained as a reproductive endocrinologist. She then
did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Richard M. Schultz
at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is now a Research
Associate. She has been a pioneer in studies on RNAi in mammals,
in particular as it relates to mouse oocytes and early embryos.
She has performed very elegant studies on the mechanism of
the mammalian RNAi pathway and has reported the efficient
use of RNAi as a tool to study gene function in mouse oocytes
using a transgenic approach.
Ian Sutherland
Ian Sutherland holds a B.Sc. in Parasitology from Glasgow
University and a Ph.D. on the diagnosis of drug resistance
in nematodes from the University of Leeds. Following seven
years in labs in Scotland, he joined the parasite epidemiology
group at AgResearch, New Zealand, in 1985 and worked primarily
on drug resistance and immunoparasitology of nematode infections
in sheep. In late 2002, Ian joined CSIRO in Rockhampton to
set up a new group focusing on parasites of tropical livestock.
Steve Whyard
Dr Steven Whyard (CSIRO Entomology) has developed genetic
transformation and RNA interference technologies for use in
invertebrate functional genomics studies as well as developing
novel methods of biological control of pests. His current
focus in Entomology is on functional genomics of pest moths
and aphids, but he also collaborates with researchers in CSIRO
Plant Industry on crop protection technologies, with researchers
in CSIRO Marine Research on genetic control of carp, and with
researchers at CSIRO Livestock Industries on genetic improvements
of farmed prawns.
Jody Zawadzki
Dr Jody Zawadzki completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne
in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During
this time Jody worked on the protozoan parasite Leishmania,
acquiring extensive knowledge in glycoconjugate biochemistry
and cell biology. Jody began her Post-Doctoral career in 2003
at Primary Industries Research Victoria working on the Nematode
Vaccine Project and has contributed to the identification
and production of a number of promising vaccine candidates.
Through this work, the need for techniques for studying gene
function was evident and Jody has focused on developing RNA
interference in the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus
to allow identification of genes that play an essential role
in parasite survival.