About

Marcel Dinger is Professor and Head of School for Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW Sydney. He has more than 20 years experience in genomics as both an academic and entrepreneur. He has published >150 papers that have collectively been cited >21,000 times and is (co)-founder of four startups in biotechnology and IT. He is a director on the board of Pryzm Health, a digital health enterprise focused on developed tools to enable precision healthcare at population-scale, a director on the governance board of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG), an ANU-based centre focused on using genomics to improve the health and well-being of Australia’s First Peoples, and President of the Australasian Genomics Technologies Association (AGTA), the principal body for the promotion of genomics research and technologies in Australasia.

Ruby is conjoint Associate Professor at the University of NSW. Previously she was a senior research fellow at the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, University of New South Wales from 2003. Her research interests for the last 15 years have expanded from cardiovascular disease and transcriptomics to systems biology and non-coding RNA species. During this time, she was awarded a NHMRC project grant with A/Prof Julie McMullen to look at transcriptomics of myocardial infarction in a PI3K mouse model. Interestingly, she also had two of her own functional genomics experiments that resulted in 8 months of maternity leave with her first child and 1 year of maternity leave with her second. Despite the lengthy break, she managed to secure another NHMRC project grant with A/Prof Julie McMullen for 2013-5 and had 9 publications during this time. She is now focussing on using systems biology to address underlying pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and overlapping disease conditions with mesothelioma. And to make it more interesting, she is analysing 73 samples of miRNA-seq data and 36 samples of RNA-seq datasets.
Ruby collaborates with A/Prof Julie R McMullen (Baker IDI), Prof Margaret J Morris (UNSW), Prof Sakari Kauppinen (Aalborg University, Denmark), Prof Robert H Yang (UNSW). Ruby remains an active member of AGTA, HBPRCA and ASMR, as well as being part of the UNSW women in research network as a mentor.

Mark is currently the manager of the David R Gunn Genomics Suite at SAHMRI in Adelaide.  After graduating from the University of Adelaide in 1993 in Chemistry, he was initially employed in the private sector doing mass spectrometry before moving in 1996 to the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research to assist establish a peptide synthesis and mass spectrometry service.  Following this he worked for local biotechnology companies Geneworks and Bresagen before moving back to SA Pathology in 2001 to establish a microarray facility in a joint partnership with the University of Adelaide.  He became manager of the microarray facility in 2006, rebranding it as Adelaide Microarray Centre and establishing an Affymetrix based array service.  During this time he became involved in genomic data analysis for local research projects and became AGTA Treasurer in 2010.  In 2011 the microarray centre became part of the newly forming ACRF Cancer Genomics Facility where he played significant roles in the design, setup and operation of the new facility.

Sam is a postdoctoral bioinformatician in the Lister Lab at The University of Western Australia and a joint NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow. He focuses on the analysis and integration of genomics datasets, including data for DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility, transcription factor occupancy and gene expression on a genome-wide scale. His current research is focused on deciphering the role of the epigenome in stem cell reprogramming and neuronal gene regulation. Sam has been a member of the AGTA since 2015 and joined the executive committee in 2017.

Kirby currently manages the science and technology portfolio at the Australian Genome Research Facility and is responsible for the development and management of major genomics projects. Kirby has over 20 years’ experience in the field of genomics, having held senior positions in both academia and ASX-listed and privately held biotechnology companies, along with experience in biotechnology industry analysis, strategy, and policy development at State Government level

Helena Mangs is the Deputy Director and COO of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics at UNSW, Sydney. Her interest in molecular biology started over 20 years ago, when she completed a post-graduate Licentiate degree at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. She was awarded a PhD in RNA splicing at the University of Sydney in 2008 before spending a few years as an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow studying the underlying molecular biology of tumour suppression. Helena’s passion is to support researchers and enable access to technology in the fields of genomics, transcriptomics and epigenetics.

• Dr Nic Waddell is currently the Medical Genomics Group Leader at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the Cancer Program coordinator, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow.
• Nic was awarded her PhD in 2003 from the University of Leicester. She undertook post docs at QIMR Berghofer and UQ before establishing her research group at QIMR Berghofer. Her program of research uses bioinformatic and genomic approaches to address clinical challenges in cancer. She collaborates extensively with researchers and clinicians, and is part of  Australian Genomics and Queensland Genomics.
• She is the co-founder of a spin out analytics company. She has published over 100 research articles including Nature, Nature Genetics and Nature Immunology.
• Areas of expertise: cancer, genomics, transcriptomics, sequencing, bioinformatics.

Anna leads Genomics Discovery Research for the Christchurch Heart Institute at the University of Otago,Christchurch.  She completed her PhD at the University of Otago, Christchurch in 2006 and undertook postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, USA from 2008 to 2010.  Since returning to New Zealand her research has focussed on understanding the mechanisms underlying our genetic susceptibility to heart disease.  She has a particular interest in identifying genetic variants and RNA molecules circulating in our blood (including long-non coding RNAs and circular RNAs) that may signal the early stages of heart disease and contribute to a poor prognosis in heart patients. She has led the introduction of genomics technologies to many collaborative projects, from microarrays in the mid 2000’s, to microRNA analysis in the 2010’s and, more recently, whole-genome SNP genotyping, RNA-Sequencing, long-read sequencing and analysis of ‘big data’. She is currently leading a large international study, funded by the HRC in NZ, to identify genetic variants that may influence progression from coronary artery disease to heart failure.

• A/Prof Mark Cowley is a bioinformatician, who leads the Computational Biology group at the Children’s Cancer Institute.
• Mark’s research involves developing bioinformatics approaches to better understand the molecular basis underlying human disease, with a highly translational focus.
• He has played a leadership role within two of Australia’s largest precision cancer medicine trials, namely the Zero Childhood Cancer program, and the Molecular Screening and Therapeutics (MoST) program.
• Prior to this, Mark’s team led the development of clinical-grade whole-genome analysis, which was commercialised, and developed into one of the first whole-genome-sequencing-based pathology tests in the world.
• Mark’s multi-disciplinary team attempts to bridge the gap from vast amounts of molecular data to improved health outcomes, through making molecularly-informed treatment decisions in real-time, for children with high-risk or rare cancers.

• Liz was awarded her PhD in 2013 from the University of Melbourne and has been a postdoctoral researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for the last 8 years.
• Her research focuses on understanding and targeting mechanisms of acquired chemoresistance in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, utilizing whole genome and targeted sequencing.
• Her research aims are to develop molecularly guided treatment strategies in recurrent high-grade serous cancer, overcome chemoresistance through mapping biomarkers of resistance and identifying novel treatment strategies.

Prof Erik (Rik) Thompson was the founding president (2004-2007) of the Australasian Microarray and Associated Technologies Association (AMATA), and is currently President of The International EMT Association (TEMTIA). He has also been President of the Matrix Biology Society of Australia & NZ (2001-2003) and the (International) Metastasis Research Society (MRS). He recently created OzMRS, an interest group for metastasis researchers in Australia.