Speakers

Michael S. Janes, MS
Senior Scientist, Research and Development, Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA

Mike received his MS. in 1996 from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA, where his graduate work focused on mitochondrial biology and comparative biochemistry between parasitic helminths and their mammalian hosts. Mike continued his training as a cell biologist and microscopist at the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado where he developed fluorescence-based assays for the study of inflammation and apoptosis in respiratory diseases until 2000. He has been a research scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific developing Molecular Probes reagents and assays for fluorescence microscopy for over seventeen years.

Guillaume Morin, PhD
Field Application Scientist, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Australia

Guillaume Morin is the Field Application Scientist for Flowy Cytometry and High-Content Analysis in ANZ for Thermo Fisher Scientific. Born and raised in the province of Quebec, Canada, Guillaume received his bachelors degree in microbiology from Laval University in 2001. He then set out to complete a masters in reproductive biology at Laval University 2004, followed by a PhD in reproductive biology at Laval University 2009, where his research focused on mammalian fertilization. Guillaume made the move to Australia in 2009 to pursue a research fellowship at Monash University, working under Professor Kate Loveland. In 2011, Guillaume joined Thermo Fisher Scientific working closely with our cell analysis research community

Associate Professor Kaylene Simpson,
Head of Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics, Peter MacCallum Research Centre, Melbourne

Associate Professor Kaylene Simpson Heads the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (VCFG) at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The VCFG enables researchers Australia-wide to perform unbiased gene discovery using high throughput gene targeting approaches such as CRISPR/cas9 and RNA interference, quantitative Reverse Phase Protein Arrays, boutique compound screening and high content imaging. She leads a highly experienced team who actively engage with researchers to help drive their research projects to fruition. Associate Professor Simpson is a molecular cell biologist who specialised in breast cancer invasion and metastasis while a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. She has a wealth of experience in assay development, data interpretation and analysis and overall guidance in the area of functional genomics. She is a founding Board member and former president of the Society of Biomolecular Imaging and Informatics (SBI²).

Iva Nikolic, PhD
Senior Scientist, Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics, Peter MacCallum Research Centre, Melbourne

Dr Iva Nikolic is a Senior Scientist at the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics where she leads the development of an arrayed CRISPR platform and novel analytical approaches for conducting large-scale high-content screens. She obtained her PhD at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, and then moved on to do her postdoctoral work at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. During this time, she developed a keen interest in high-throughput genomic technologies and acquired significant experience in the field of functional genomics. She applied this expertise to studying microRNA biology, and as part of her work performed one of the most comprehensive studies of microRNA’s role in cancer chemosensitivity. As part of the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics, she works on implementing CRISPR technology in high-throughput screening workflows, and combining it with high-content imaging.

Kieran Mulroney B.Sc (Hons) PhD Student,

Kieran comes from a diverse and varied academic background; his undergraduate studies at Curtin University, Perth, were in molecular genetics and biotechnology, which led to a microbiologically focused honours studies under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth Watkin. During this time, he developed a novel, single-dye assay of viability for iron-oxidising acidophilic bacteria and cultivated a passion for technically challenging cytometry.

He is currently a PhD candidate at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research through the University of Western Australia, under the supervision of Associate Professor Aron Chakera and Professor Tim Inglis, where he is applying the investigation of complex interactions between mesothelial cell immune biology and bacterial physiology in the setting of peritoneal dialysis associated peritonitis. From this work, he has developed a particular passion for applying the power of flow cytometry to the diagnostic challenges of rapid culture independent microbiology.

Sonja Frölich, PhD
Research Associate, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide

Sonja graduated with first class honours in Biotechnology at University of Technology Sydney in 2010. She then pursued her training as a PhD scholar in molecular parasitology, and worked in the iThree Institute (i3) with Prof. Michael Wallach on an ARC funded Linkage grant with the veterinary pharmaceutical company ABIC (Israel) to characterize the mechanisms of Eimeria maxima oocyst wall formation for interrupting parasitic disease of poultry, coccidiosis. In 2014, she was offered a junior academic position in the Climate Change Cluster (C3, UTS) to work with Prof. Peter Ralph and Associate Prof. Stella Valenzuela on an ARC funded Linkage project grant with GE Healthcare to establish a protein expression platform in green algae Chlamydomonas. During this period, she also co-supervised undergraduate students, and has lectured to undergraduate and masters students in parasitology, microbiology, public health and epidemiology, bioreactors and bioprocessing, along with microscopy and flow cytometry. She is the recipient of a number of awards and travel grants, including Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), Dean’s Academic Excellence Award (UTS) and Australian Technion Society Award. In March 2015, Sonja joined the Genome Integrity Group at CMRI to develop automated microscopy-assisted high content assays (cytomics) and validate their use in cancer research and studies of telomeropathies. She also optimised immunolabelling methods and applied state-of-the-art super-resolution imaging technologies (3D SIM, STED, STORM and Airyscan) to structural studies of telomeres for which she was awarded the Research Excellence Award. In April 2016, Sonja joined The Robinson Research Institute and the Medical School at the University of Adelaide to work with Associate Prof. Darryl Russell and Associate Prof. Rebecca Robker on an NHMRC funded project to identify the mechanisms that mediate telomere lengthening during embryogenesis. 

Jake Rhodes, PhD Student,
Centre for Virus Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Sydney

Jake completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney in 2016 in medical science majoring in microbiology with a first class honours in immunology and infectious diseases. His honours work was completed at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research under the supervision of Associate Professor Andrew Harman, investigating the mononuclear phagocyte subsets within the human anogenital tracts. He then continued this work into a PhD which he is currently pursuing, further investigating the immune cells within inflamed human anogenital tissues and how they interact with HIV.

Matthew Campbell BSc (Hons)
Technical Sales Specialist
Cell Analysis, Thermo Fisher Scientific Australasia

Matthew Campbell gained his bachelor of science degree with honours from Flinders University and has over 15 years’ experience in the sales and support of microscopy platforms. His previous positions included Life Science Division Manager with Nikon (Coherent Scientific) and Product Specialist for ZEISS Microscopy. Matthew is now the Thermo Fisher Scientific Technical Sales Specialist for our cell analysis portfolio that incorporates our EVOS microscopes. Having experience across many brands and modes of microscopy from simple transmitted through to confocal and super resolution, Matthew is able to offer unique insights into the EVOS systems capabilities, suitability’s and advantages over traditional imaging platforms.