Associate Professor Thomas Tu is a molecular biologist and leads a research group at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in the Storr Liver Centre (Sydney, Australia), where his team focuses on persistent forms of the Hepatitis B virus (covalently closed circular DNA and integrated HBV DNA) and develops methods to measure and eliminate them.  

He is particularly passionate about developing an HBV cure and mitigating the associated liver cancer, as he himself lives with chronic Hepatitis B. This provides him with unique perspectives on the disease as a researcher, patient, and advocate. He has won multiple awards for his research and outreach, most recently the 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science award and the Inaugural Paul and Valeria Ainsworth Precision Medicine Fellowship.  

A/Prof Tu is President of the Australian Centre for Hepatitis Virology, the premier Australian society for hepatitis virus researchers. He is also the founder and Director of HepBCommunity.org (a global support network for people affected with HBV), guiding people through their HBV diagnosis, and linking them with trustworthy scientific and medical information. Recently he has established Hepatitis B Voices Australia, an advocacy group run by the affected community.  

Amanda Luck is the Biobank Manager and Research Associate with the Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital here in Adelaide. She has been instrumental in the development of South Australia’s first Paediatric Brain Tumour Biobank, focusing on patient recruitment, specimen processing, storage and distribution.

Amanda is also passionate about community engagement, with part of her research focus on the development of the Precision Cancer Medicine Consumer Advisory Team at SAHMRI, focused on aligning the research with the wishes of those directly affected by brain cancer. She has over 13 years experience in the Paediatric Brain Cancer Research space, 11 of those at Sickkids Hospital in Toronto. She is passionate about biobanking and advancing research into treatments for better survivorship outcomes and survival for paediatric brain cancer patients.

Dr Eng Chon Boon is the co-lead of the Cancer Databases and Tissues Banks platform of the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium. He is also the director for the Tissue Repository, National University Hospital (NUH), and runs the Hospital-based Cancer Registry (HCR) at the National University Cancer Institute (NCIS), and has an adjunct position in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH), National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also the principal person-in-charge of tissue banks across the National University Health System (NUHS) public healthcare cluster, and the co-lead PI for the Singapore Integrated Network of Biorepositories (SINB), an infrastructure network formed by academic tissue repositories in Singapore. He is the Singapore’s convenor for ISO//TC276 Biotechnology and in the editorial board of “Biopreservation and Biobanking” by Mary Ann Liebert. 

He is a past recipient for International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) special service award (2010) and had numerous voluntary responsibilities within the ISBER over the years (Councilor, Chair of the ISBER Marketing Committee, members of ISBER Finance, Nominating, Strategic Planning, Program Committee), vice-chair of local organizing committee for the 2007 ISBER Annual Meeting in Singapore. Currently, he is also a member of the advisory panel for Biosample Hub, a not-for-profit company that helps industry requesters to partner with academic providers. He has numerous publications/book chapter/patent in the field of biobanking and had given talks, conducted biobanking workshops and consulted for various international biobanks over the past 15 years. 

Kate Jennar is an accomplished professional with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and a Master of Pharmacy from the University of Newcastle. With a wealth of experience in healthcare, Kate is currently employed as a Senior Clinical Pharmacist, bringing expertise and compassion to patient care.

She is also recognized as a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (FANZCAP). 

Beyond professional achievements, Kate has recently embraced the joy of motherhood, adding a new, welcomed challenge to her life. 

Jodie Clarkson is a Biobanking Consumer. Jodie lives in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) with her husband and 16-year-old son. In 2017 she started having bizarre ‘episodes’ of deja vu followed by nausea, and losing consciousness. This happened about 15 times. At age 45, Jodie was diagnosed with a 5cm x 7cm Grade II Diffuse Astrocytoma IDH1 mutation that had taken over her Right Temporal Lobe. She had a 10 hour Radical Lobectomy, via Craniotomy, in Adelaide, was in ICU for 10 hours and the ward for a week. Back home Jodie adapted to Quadrantanopia vision loss, returned to part-time work at the Aboriginal Interpreter Service and was back running within a few weeks. 8  months later the cancer recurred and Jodie was given a 6 months prognosis. She flew to Sydney to see Prof. Charlie Teo for a second opinion. Prior to surgery she enthusiastically consented to her tumour tissue being donated to the Charlie Teo Foundation Brain Tumour Bank.

The Grade III Anaplastic Astrocytoma was resected via keyhole neuro-endescopy. Researcher Ashraf Zaman took the tissue from the operating theatre, prepared and accessioned it into the CTF Tumour Bank at The Garvan Institute.  Jodie was in ICU for a couple of hours, back in the ward, discharged the next day and running a week later. This was 6 years ago.

2.5 years later the cancer recurred and Jodie completed 6 months of Palliative Oral Home Temozolomide chemo. This treatment stopped the progressing disease crossing the Midline and gave Jodie time to plan her End of Life. At her first Palliative Care Outpatient Clinic Jodie made a request to donate her brain for research. Her Clinitian Championed this Final Wish and discovered NT law did not allow donation of non-regenerative tissue. Together they advocated and lobbied and made her Voice heard. The Northern Territory Transplantation and Anatomy Act was amended in September 2021 to allow her brain donation for research.

 Jodie’s brain cancer continues to advance slowly and in 2024 she completed a further 8 cycles of chemo.

Susan Hazel is an Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics in the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide. Susan has worked in research and teaching on the intersection of animal and human relationships during the last 18 years, and is also a veterinarian. She is a Board member of the Dog & Cat Management Board of SA, on the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee SA and a Directory for RSPCA SA.

Sue Hume is the Biobank Manager at the Victorian Cancer Biobank, Eastern Health Site located in Melbourne, Victoria.  She has over 13 years’ experience in the Biobanking Sector particularly in Adult Oncology Biobanking. This experience is complemented by 20 years in the Pathology sector.

She has contributed to the growth and expansion of the Eastern Health Biobank to full consortium member status within the Victorian Cancer Biobank.

With considerable expertise in all areas of the biobanking lifecycle and an interest in ethics and recruitment, she is passionate about getting the consent process right.

Professor Mathew G. Lewsey studies how plants perceive and interact with the world around them through regulation of their genes. His lab at the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food (La Trobe University, Australia) is home to a diverse team of engineers, computational biologists, genome scientists and more. Their work spans from the fundamental to the applied, involving commercial partners who grow a range of crops such as cannabis, opium poppies, barley, oats and peas.

Mat completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge with Prof John Carr, studying how plant viruses manipulate host plant biology to favour infection and transmission. He was next a Marie Curie Fellow at the Salk Institute (La Jolla, USA) with Prof Joe Ecker and at the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (Madrid, Spain) with Prof Roberto Solano. His projects at that time focused on applying functional genomics to understand plant hormone biology and small RNA signalling between organs. Mat joined La Trobe University in April 2016 to further his interests in genomics and systems biology. In 2017 he became Director of the La Trobe Genomics Platform, in 2019 Co-Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Medicinal Agriculture, and from 2020-2022 he was the Director for Research and Industry Engagement for the School of Life Sciences. Most recently he has helped establish the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space, which studies plant design and bioresource production to enable off-Earth habitation and provide solutions for improving on-Earth sustainability. He now serves as the La Trobe University Plants for Space Node Leader.

Professor Frank Grutzner is internationally recognised for his work in comparative genomics. Over the past 23 years his work on the Australian iconic egg-laying mammals has shaped our understanding of mammalian evolution and led to translation into native species conservation and biomedicine. He used opportunistic sampling and citizen science to establish a unique collection of samples for research that supported seminal basic, translational and community-based research. More recently he and his colleagues established SciStarter Australia as a platform to diversify participation and investigate impact of a rapidly growing number of citizen science projects in Australia.

Jerry Smith is a Senior Scientific Officer with the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre (SASCC). He has worked for the last 25 years undertaking flora conservation projects across South Australia but largely in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu peninsula.  Prior to working at the Botanic Gardens he managed “Back from the Brink” the single largest threatened flora conservation project in SA working on improving the trajectory of 20 species of national significance including two of Australia’s Top 30 plant species.  During this project he worked in partnership with the team at the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre and when an opportunity arose to join this team as the Senior Scientific Officer, he jumped at the chance to be part of a small passionate, team of committed plant conservationists.  The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre is a partner with the Australian Seedbank Partnership and Millenium Seedbank of the KEW Botanic Gardens.  The SASCC works to have long-term storage of the germplasm of vascular plant species in South Australia, particularly focused on those species that are of conservation significance.  

Dr Kate Poole is an Associate Professor at UNSW's School of Biomedical Sciences. She received her PhD from the University of Adelaide (2002), and completed post-doctoral training in Germany: at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology, Dresden (2002-2005), and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin (2008-2012). In between, Kate spent a couple of years working in industry for the Atomic Force Microscopy company, JPK Instruments, AG. She established her own research group in 2012 at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin supported by a Cecile Vogt Fellowship and returned to Australia in 2016 when she was recruited as a group leader in Single Molecule Science at UNSW. She currently leads the Cellular Mechanotransduction laboratory and acts as Director of Research for the School of Biomedical Sciences. Her research seeks to understand how cells sense and respond to their mechanical environment, with a focus on identifying and characterising the molecular force sensors that convert mechanical information into biological signals.

Dr Helen Wihongi (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Āpanui and Ngā Puhi) is the National Group Manager Māori Research for Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand). She brings to the role a community psychologists perspective on research and evaluation, a Tiriti perspective on policy in practice and a strong belief that mātauranga and tikanga Maori services will improve the state of Māori health for whānau Māori.

Her interest and training in ethics has her sitting on international, national, regional and local governance bodies contributing to the thinking about ethical issues that may arise during the course of a research study. She is a founding member of Te Ira Kāwai the Auckland Regional Biobank. Helen, Professor Papaarangi Reid and Associate Professor Maui Hudson were instrumental in developing the tikanga/ethics around how Māori tissue is to be stored, accessed and used.

Professor Andrew Pask heads the Evo-Devo-Repro group at the University of Melbourne. His research uses comparative mammalian genetics to identify critical and conserved networks driving key processes in development. His comparative genetics work has led to the sequencing of several marsupial genomes, including that of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger. He uses genome wide, cross species comparisons to define regions of the genome targeted by evolution to drive diversity and adaptation. Andrew established the Thylacine integrated genetic restoration research lab (TIGRR lab) to examine the possibility of de-extinction for this species as well as develop next-generation tools to help preserve and conserve current threatened and endangered marsupial species. This work has recently resulted in an ARC linkage grant to establish a living cell biobank at museums Victoria. Together this work is focused on providing an integrated framework to preserve, conserve and even restore Australia’s unique biodiversity.

Dr Sally Norton has over 25 years’ experience in the collection, characterisation, and curation of agricultural grain crops and their wild relatives. Sally is the National Leader of the Australian Grains Genebank where she coordinates the acquisition, conservation, and distribution of grain germplasm that underpins the development of new crop varieties for the Australian grains industry. She is globally recognised as a crop wild relative specialist and an expert in genebank management and operations and has provided capacity building and training programs within and outside of Australia around collection, conservation, and management of genebank germplasm.

Associate Professor Ngaire Elwood is the Director of the BMDI Cord Blood Bank and serves as Chair of the AusCord network of public cord blood banks. Within her scientific research career, she has made significant contributions in the field of cancer, cord blood, BMT, stem cells and leukaemia. Ngaire has played a key role in development of the FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Banking and is a member of the TGA Advisory Committee on Biologicals. She holds a diverse Board portfolio, predominantly within the cell therapy sector. Ngaire was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in October 2022. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia AM in the 2024 Australia Day Honours awards for significant service to medicine, particularly through stem cell research.

Associate Professor Abiodun David Ogunniyi is a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology, an NHMRC Externally-Funded Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Ecology, The University of Adelaide. He is an infectious disease expert with a diverse research portfolio including efficacy evaluation of new antibiotics and safe biocides for wide application in human and animal health and agrifood industries which together offers a One Health solution to disease management for better public health outcomes. He creatively uses bioluminescent mouse models of infection for efficacy assessments of new broad-spectrum antibiotics against superbugs.

 A/Prof Ogunniyi has published 2 book chapters, >110 manuscripts (h-index = 42); and >20 scientific reports for Industry, He has co-supervised 7 Honours (all First Class), one MSc, and 6 PhD students and is directly involved in mentoring >10 Research Assistants, >15 PhD students and >15 postdocs.

Dr Laura Klein trained as a biological anthropologist, collaborating to research human milk composition globally. She is currently the National Milk Research Lead at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, where she co-leads a translationally focused research program covering all aspects of human milk donation, from donor experience to new product development.

Professor Jennifer Byrne is Director of Biobanking- NSW Health with NSW Health Pathology, and conjoint Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Sydney. Jennifer trained in laboratory research at the University of Queensland and was a postdoctoral fellow in Strasbourg, France, before returning to Sydney. Jennifer has authored over 120 papers across the fields of cancer genetics, cancer biology, research integrity and biobanking that have been collectively cited over 4,200 times. She leads the PRIMeR group (Publication and Research Integrity in Medical Research) and is based at the NSW Health Statewide Biobank in Camperdown, Sydney.

He uri tēnei ō Ngāti Maniapoto. Ko Ariana Estoras tāku ingoa.

After studying molecular genetics at the University of Otago and gaining her MSc, Ariana worked in NZ (MAF animal health) and UK-based (Imperial College) research organisations. She then returned to Aotearoa joining Beef + Lamb NZ and then MPI to build Māori agri-partnerships to help realise their goals. Ariana's current focus is leading Te Ao Māori strategy, kaupapa Māori-centred research and partnerships at AgResearch as Director of Māori Strategy, Research and Partnerships. Ariana is also a Board Director for AsureQuality. 

Professor Joy Rathjen is the Director, Research and Innovation at SA Pathology. Joy joined SA Pathology in this newly created role in 2022 and is focusing on how to build a research program into a modern, public pathology service. She came to this role after 3 years as the Scientific Director of the Basil Hetzel Institute of Translational Health Research and The Hospital Research Foundation Group. Her transition to research management and strategy is relatively recent and follows a career as an academic with a research interest in embryonic stem cells and early mammalian development.

Dr Anusha Hettiaratchi is the manager at Biospecimen Services, as part of the core services provided through the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. She has 14 years’ experience as a bench scientist, and uses skills learnt and refined during this time to now enable research through UNSW Biospecimen Services. These services include Cold Storage Services, specimen processing laboratories including a biobanking database, assistance with ethics and the provision of samples and data through the Health Precinct Biobank.

Anusha is an active member of ISBER and ABNA. She has contributed to ISBER Annual Meeting Scientific Task Forces and co-chaired the 2023 Seattle conference and is co-chair for the 2025 meeting in Montreal. She was elected to the ABNA Management Committee in 2017 and is a past vice president (2018 – 2019) and president (2020-2021). She has worked on multiple ABNA sub-committees including the Conference Organising and Newsletter Committees and is the current ABNA Editor. Anusha is the UNSW representative on the Australian Standards Committee HE-032 and is a qualified NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) Technical Assessor to ISO 20387 and a member of NATAs Biobanking Accreditation Advisory Committee.

Dr Jelani Clarke is a neuroimmunologist with a degree from McGill University. After transitioning from the biotech industry to scientific consulting and communication, he became a strong advocate for open, accessible, and equitable science. With a focus on decentralised science (DeSci), distributed ledger technology, and biobanking, Dr. Clarke now serves as the Chief Business Development Officer at AminoChain.

Chris Sulfaro is the National Milk Operations Manager with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.

Chris’s background is nursing – she is a Registered Nurse, with post graduate qualifications in Midwifery and Perinatal Intensive Care Nursing. Chris also holds a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Management and a Master of Health Management.

Chris is excited to be able to use her NICU nursing and management experience to lead Lifeblood Milk on this amazing journey that has had far reaching effects on the lives of premature babies and their families across Australia.

Chris is proud to have been an integral part of the process that has seen Lifeblood Milk grow to Australia’s leading milk program and obtain international recognition.

A/Prof Laura Forrest is a senior research fellow and associate genetic counsellor in the Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, the conjoint clinical genetics department at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

A/Prof Forrest leads the Psychosocial Cancer Genomics Research team in the Parkville Familial Cancer Centre. Her research program aims to translate genomic advances into patient outcomes, including engagement with cancer prevention and risk management strategies.

A/Prof Forrest holds a mid-career fellowship from the Victorian Cancer Agency, which funds a hybrid effectiveness implementation trial. She collaborates with a number of cancer cohorts at the Peter Mac to evaluate experiences and outcomes for the research participants including TRACEBACK, lifepool, and CASCADE.

Mike Gardner answers questions related to evolutionary biology, sociality, conservation and behaviour, primarily with two lizard systems. He is the current custodian of a continuous (since 1982) survey of sleepy lizards (aka shinglebacks) and their ticks at a site in the Mid-North of South Australia, and also conducts conservation research with pygmy bluetongue lizards.

He previously did a stint exploring coevolution in ants and hoverflies with the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology in the UK after undertaking his PhD on social lizards at Flinders University in Adelaide under the late C. Michael Bull. Prior to that Mike Gardner worked for CSIRO investigating population structure in school and gummy sharks. His undergraduate and honours were completed in Brisbane at the Queensland University for Technology. Currently Mike is a Professor of Biodiversity and Ecology at Flinders University in South Australia.

Growing up in suburban Adelaide, Vienna became fascinated with the light-polluted night sky visible from her backyard. When she discovered that she could combine her passion for space with her medical degree, she went on to research the effect of artificial gravity on the hip muscles during prolonged bedrest, for which she earned a First Class Honours as part of an international team.

Vienna is currently a registrar with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), undertaking her Diploma of Rural Generalist Anaesthetics. She has worked for the Australian Space Agency to help develop the first Applied Space Medicine and Life Sciences roadmap. She was the winner of SQLDR Lana Davies Memorial Award in 2023 for her early-career contribution to aerospace medicine. Outside her day job, you will find her giving a school talk about space, conducting medicals as the local DAME or running on the trails.

Reuben Wheeler is a microbiologist and Research Scientist at BiomeBank, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Adelaide, dedicated to treating and preventing disease through the restoration of gut microbial ecology. Currently pursuing a PhD at Flinders University, Reuben's research focuses on unravelling microbial mechanisms in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, with the aim of developing innovative microbial therapeutics to address unmet medical needs. As a core member of BiomeBank’s Cultured Therapies team, Reuben leads efforts in the isolation, biobanking, and characterisation of microbial strains from donor stool, creating a vital resource for the development of next-generation microbial therapies.