Viral and Vaccine Immunology Lab
Melbourne VIC Australia
Our Group is drawn from a diversity of backgrounds with a shared passion for studying the biology, immunology and countermeasures for pathogenic viruses.
The Team
To learn more about our researchers and current research programs, be sure to check out their individual profile pages
Head, Clinical Immunology Lab
Professor Stephen Kent trained as an infectious diseases physician and viral immunologist in Melbourne and the USA. He is a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Principal Research Fellow. Several vaccine concepts tested in his lab have shown sufficient promise to progress into human clinical trials. Stephen remains active in infectious diseases clinical medicine at the Alfred Hospital and Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. He is proud to lead a team of gifted scientists studying viral immunity.
Head, Humoral Immunity Lab
Adam has a long standing interest in understanding the development and regulation of humoral immunity to vaccines and viral infections. After a PhD at the University of Melbourne, and post-doctoral training at the Vaccine Research Center, NIH, he returned to the Doherty Institute in 2015. His team are actively researching antibody and B cell immunobiology, in particular mechanisms that might inform the development of broad and lasting vaccine-elicited protection against influenza or SARS-CoV-2.
Head, Antiviral T cell Lab
Jennifer is an early career researcher with a strong interest in non-conventional and CD4 T cell immunology in the context of infectious disease. She completed her PhD in HIV immunology in 2014 at the University of Manitoba, Canada, followed by a fellowship at the Public Health Agency of Canada. In 2016, she moved to Melbourne and has established a team to study the role for T cells in modulating protective immunity to viral and other chronic infections.
Senior Researcher
Hyon Xhi focuses on immunology, mainly investigating adaptive immune responses against influenza. Using a combination of precise microscopy imaging and flow cytometry, he examines factors that enhance B cell responses in mucosal tissues such as the lung, which can act as a first line of defence against recurring influenza or SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Senior Researcher
Dr Lee was awarded his PhD in 2019, on studies investigating whether antibodies that mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) could be utilised for an HIV cure. Dr Lee continues his work on ADCC antibodies against HIV and has recently pivoted to work on COVID-19, studying neutralising antibody responses and antibody Fc-mediated effector functions against SARS-CoV-2.
Senior Researcher
Marios completed his BSc in Biomedical Sciences at Imperial College in London, working with Professor Wendy Barclay on the molecular virology of influenza B viruses. Marios subsequently undertook a PhD at the University of Melbourne, focusing on understanding protective immunity to influenza viruses. Marios now works on the pre-clinical development of universal influenza vaccines and immunity to influenza B viruses.
Mai Vu
Researcher
Mai did her B. Pharm degree in Hanoi, Vietnam and did a MSc at Monash pharmacy. She recently completed a PhD at Monash Pharmacy in Parkville and joins the group to develop next-generation mRNA and nanoparticle vaccines to boost global pandemic preparedness efforts.
Lara Schwab
Researcher
Lara participated in the International Research Training Group, a PhD program between the University of Melbourne and the University of Bonn/Germany and was awarded her joint PhD degree in 2022. She was focusing on evaluating the antiviral activity of RIG-I agonists in different models of respiratory viral infections. Lara recently joined the group to expand upon her interests in viral respiratory diseases and will work on influenza B virus virology and immunology.
Chris Gonelli
Researcher
Chris completed his PhD in our department on various vaccine projects and has been working as a post doc at the NIH’s Vaccine Research Centre. He returns to Australia to work with Adam on a range on monoclonal antibody projects.
Research Assistants
Rosela Webster
Researcher
Rosie conducted her PhD with the Tarlinton lab at Monash and joined us to work with Adam and Hyon-Xhi on B cell immunity to pandemic viruses.
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Mitchell Zheng
Researcher
Mitchell conducted his PhD with Linda Wakim and Pat Reading at the Doherty Institute and joined us to work with Jen Juno and her team on T cell immunity to pandemic pathogens.
Palak Mehta
Researcher
Palak completed a Masters in Wellington NZ and then a PhD with Kylie Quinn at RMIT on CAR T cells. She joins Jen to work on understanding T cell responses to vaccination in clinical cohorts
Thakshila Amarasena
Thakshila is an experienced technical scientist helping with our studies of viral quantification, sequencing and flow cytometry. She obtained her science degree in Sri Lanka and is a very experienced laboratory scientist. She is also our diligent safety and compliance officer.
Robyn Esterbauer
Robyn completed a BSc (Honors) in our department in 2016 topping her honors class. She has previously worked in several IT areas and brings a wide range of skills to our lab. She is working with Adam on several influenza immunity projects and is a very valued team member.
Lauren Burmas
Lauren completed her Honours year with the lab in 2022, and now joins the team as an RA. Her Honours project focused on immune responses to protein vaccines in pre-clinical animal models. She will assist with multiple immunology projects in the lab while developing her skills in flow cytometry and molecular biology.
Andrew Kelly
Andrew joined the lab in 2021 and works with Robyn to oversee antibody and recombinant protein expression for the lab.
Julie Nguyen
Julie completed honours in 2021. She is now working with Hyon-Xhi and Jen on several immunisation and immunology projects. She manages our clinical sample processing and storage for a wide variety of clinical trials.
Ellie Reilly
Ellie completed her BSc Honours at the University of Wollongong in NSW. She previously worked with the Lung transplant service at the Alfred Hospital / Monash Immunology Department. Ellie joins us to work with Marios and Wen Shi on various immunology and virology projects
Lydia Murdiyarso
Lydia has a master's degree in Biomedical Science from Monash University. She has multiple years of technical experience in molecular biology and animal models. She is now working with Adam and Hyon-Xhi on B cell immunology and vaccine related projects.
Graduate Researchers
Kirsty Field
Kirsty obtained her BSc at Melbourne University majoring in Microbiology and Immunology and joined us as an honors student in 2020 working with Jen and Kathleen on how to get the most out of gamma-delta T cells for use as immunotherapy for HIV. She obtained excellent marks for her honors projects despite COVID interruptions and started a PhD with Jen in 2021.
Devaki Pilapitiya
Devaki obtained her BSc (hons) from the University of Auckland in 2017 and then worked as a research assistant studying virulence factors of Group A Streptococci. She started a PhD with Adam and Hyon-Xhi in 2021 on nanoparticle vaccines.
Thu Do
Thu hails from Vietnam and recently completed a successful MSc with the Rossjohn group at Monash. She started a PhD with Marios on Influenza B projects
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Veronica Zoest
Nicky completed her undergraduate BSc honours at the University of Auckland and has been working on studying Mycobacterial infections in NZ. She joined us in 2023 to do a PhD studying immunity to pandemic vaccines in a range of models.
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Yee-Chen Liu
Yee-Chen completed her DVM and MSc in Taiwan and has been working in Avian disease laboratories. She joined us to do a PhD with our team on vaccines and immunity to pandemic viral pathogens.
Administrative Staff
Jane Batten
Jane is a former research scientist who worked with us for many years prior to having children. She rejoined the group part time in 2015 to help us manage our large research enterprise.
Janavi Rambhatla
Janavi completed her Ph.D. in 2019 on malaria immunity from the University of Melbourne. She joined our lab in 2021 as a Senior Project Officer to work with Stephen, Adam and Jen to manage clinical development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.