2026 ACDS COMMITTEE

Dr Sabrina Burgener

Sabrina is the Deputy Lab Head of the Inflammasome Group (Prof. Kate Schroder) at the

Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland.

In 2019, she joined the Inflammasome Group as a Senior Research Fellow with back-to-

back fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and Novartis Foundation for

Medical-Biological Research. In the Inflammasome lab, her research program focuses on

pre-clinical disease models to study inflammation and cell death with a focus on 1) how the

innate immune system drives disease, 2) identifying novel therapeutic targets in these

diseases, and 3) defining potential trade-offs in preventing inflammation.

Sabrina holds funding for her independent research program from Metro South’s co-funded

collaboration project scheme and ARC Discovery Projects.

s.burgener@imb.uq.edu.au

Dr Kerstin Brinkmann 

Kerstin is a Victorian Cancer Agent Mid-Career-Research fellow in the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division at WEHI (Melbourne, Australia). She is an emerging leader in the field of cell death as evidenced by 22 publications including 5 first author publications in leading journals such as EMBO J, Cell Death and Differentiation and Cell Reports. Her research focuses on the improvement of cancer therapy by evaluating potential treatment side effects of different chemotherapeutic treatment protocols, including DNA damaging chemotherapy and BH3 mimetic compounds. Kerstin currently leads a small team at WEHI and holds funding for her independent research program from the Victorian Cancer Agency, the NHMRC and the Cancer Council Victoria.

brinkmann.k@wehi.edu.au

Dr Radek Szmyd

Radek is a mid-career researcher at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in Sydney

with over 10 years of experience in cancer cell biology, cell cycle and genome instability.

Graduated with a MSc in Biotechnology from Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland; 2007-

2012) and PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from National University of Singapore (2013-

2018). Immediately after his PhD, he joined Prof Tony Cesare’s lab at CMRI as a lead

postdoctoral researcher in the collaborative project between Prof Cesare and Assoc/Prof

Harriet Gee.Radek’s current research focuses on targeting DNA damage response in combination with

radiotherapy to elicit synergy with immunotherapy for cancer patients benefit.

rszmyd@cmri.org.au

Dr Shuai Huang

Shuai is a Senior Postdoctoral Research at WEHI working with Prof Andreas Strasser and Prof Gemma Kelly. Shuai’s research focuses on the p53 tumour suppressor pathway, exploring how the targeted manipulation of this gene can be harnessed to trigger cancer cell death and improve therapeutic outcomes in blood cancers.

huang.s@wehi.edu.au

Dr Sven Engel

Sven is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Bedoui laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne. He received his jointly awarded PhD from the Universities of Melbourne and Bonn (2024), where he investigated programmed cell death during intracellular bacterial infections. His research described how the flexible network of cell death pathways (pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis) is utilised during the control and clearance of Salmonella infections. His current research is focused on understanding the importance of programmed cell death during viral infections.

s.engel@unimelb.edu.au

Dilara Ozkocak

Dilara is a final year PhD student at La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS) under the supervision of A/Prof Ivan Poon. Dilara’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms behind apoptotic body formation and release, and further understanding their therapeutic potential in the context of inflammatory diseases.

d.ozkocak@latrobe.edu.au

Dr Jascinta Santavanond

Jascinta is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) working with Prof Ivan Poon. She completed her PhD at La Trobe University in 2024. Her research focuses on exploring the intricate relationship between apoptosis, apoptotic cell disassembly and efferocytosis in various (patho)physiological settings. Alongside this, she is working to develop novel zebrafish models to monitor cell death processes in real time.

J.Santavanond@latrobe.edu.au

Dr Sarah Morf

Sarah is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Mitochondria, Cell Death and Immunity Lab led by Dr Kate McArthur at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (Monash University). Sarah completed her PhD in 2025 under the supervision of Prof. Mike Ryan with a focus on mitochondrial biogenesis and protein import systems. Her postdoctoral research aims to dissect the molecular mechanisms of vesicular and membrane-free extracellular mitochondrial DNA release in various models of disease and mitochondrial dysfunction.

sarah.morf@monash.edu

Dr Pooranee Morgan

Pooranee is a postdoctoral researcher in the Haematopoiesis and Leukocyte Biology lab (Prof. Andrew Murphy) at the Baker HDI. Pooranee's research focuses on identifying and developing potential lipid-based therapeutic applications to alter immune cell sensitivity to ferroptosis in the contexts of cancer and atherosclerosis.

Pooranee.Morgan@baker.edu.au