THE ACDS COMMITTEE

Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith

Postdoctoral Researcher at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science and the WEHI (Ivan Poon and Edwin Hawkins laboratories). Georgia completed her PhD at La Trobe University in 2019. Her research focuses on the death, disassembly and clearance of apoptotic cells in models of cancer such as leukemia and solid tumours.

atkinsmith.g@wehi.edu.au

A/Prof Ivan Poon

Laboratory head at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. Ivan completed his PhD in 2009 followed by a postdoc at the University of Virginia and established his lab at La Trobe University in 2014. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanism of dying cell disassembly and the implication of this process in intercellular communication and cell clearance.

i.poon@latrobe.edu.au

Dr Yoon Lim

Research Fellow at the Centre for Cancer Biology (CCB), UniSA and SA Pathology. Dr Lim completed his PhD in Neuroscience in 2016 (University of South Australia). Since Oct 2016, Yoon has been working as a post-doctoral researcher under the mentorship of Prof Sharad Kumar. His current research focuses on understanding a new mechanism of p53 regulation via a caspase-2-MDM2 pathway toward a new strategy of enhancing tumour suppression through modulating caspase-2 activation and function. 

yoon.Lim@unisa.edu.au

Dr Amy Baxter

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science under A/Prof Ivan Poon. Amy’s research is focused on the mechanisms and functions of extracellular vesicles derived from apoptotic cells. Currently, Amy is investigating the roles of endothelial cell-derived apoptotic bodies in the context of vascular inflammation and cell clearance. 

a.baxter@latrobe.edu.au

Dr Sabrina Burgener

SNSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Immunology at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland. Dr. Burgener completed her PhD investigating the cytoprotective role of Serpinb1 and Serpinb6 in neutrophils under supervision of PD Dr. Charafa Benarafa at the University of Bern, Switzerland and has over 10 years of research experience with the main focus on rodent in vivo inflammation models. Her current research involves understanding how caspase-1 drives inflammatory diseases and if targeting caspase-1 in diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and Alzheimer’s disease comes at the cost of increased susceptibility to infection.

s.burgener@imb.uq.edu.au

Stefanie Bader

PhD student in the Infectious Diseases and Immune Defence division at WEHI. With co-supervision from Marc Pellegrini, Andreas Strasser and Marco Herold, Stef researches the role of cell death and inflammation during SARS-CoV-2 infection, and how these pathways may be targeted as therapeutic options for treatment of severe COVID-19.

bader.s@wehi.edu.au

Dr Sarah Garnish

Postdoctoral Researcher in the Inflammation division at WEHI working with Prof James Murphy. Sarah completed her PhD at WEHI in 2022. Her research focuses on understanding the underlying signaling mechanisms of necroptosis and how the pathway contributes to human disease.

garnish.s@wehi.edu.au

Dr Malvina Pizzuto

FNRS postdoctoral research fellow in the inflammasomelab (Prof Kate Schroder) at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ. After completing her PhD in Immunology at the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium, Malvina performed postdoctoral research under Prof Pablo Pelegrín at the Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia in Spain. Malvina’s research focuses on how mitochondrial cardiolipin regulates the non-canonical inflammasome-driven cell death and inflammatory responses in health and disease.

m.pizzutu@uq.edu.au

Madeleine Wemyss

Final year PhD student at the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, guided by the supervision of Dr. Jaclyn Pearson and Dr. Kate Lawlor. Maddie's research focuses on the role of programmed cell death and inflammation in regulating host responses to intracellular bacteria, and how these may be altered or exploited by gastrointestinal pathogens such as Salmonella. 

madeleine.wemyss1@monash.edu