About us

Prof. Chun-Xia Zhao leads the Bioinspired Materials and Devices lab (BMD), focusing on bioinspired nanomaterials for drug delivery (including polymer/lipid nanoparticles and nanocapsules for delivering small molecule drugs, peptides/proteins, and RNAs), and biomimetic devices (tumor chip, organ chip, soft electronics) for drug development.

Branka leads the Viral Immunology Group at the Adelaide Medical School. Her research focuses on development of novel mRNA vaccines and lipid nanoparticles in infectious diseases and cancer immunotherapy.

Robert’s research aims to better understand in-vitro transcription and lipid nanoparticle assembly for mRNA and CRISPR delivery using a fusion of scientific and engineering strategies.

Professor Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, FRACP, DHSc is the inaugural Director of the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) and Medical Oncologist with expertise in drug development and cancer biology.

Brendan is Head of the Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy Program at SAiGENCI, and has an interest in mRNA-mediated targeting strategies against immune system regulators in cancer.

Lukas focuses on the manufacturing, purification and analytics of mRNA and plasmid DNA.

Makutiro is a research scientist specialising in developing next-generation mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, including HCV, SARS CoV 2, and Zika.

Zelalem is a viral immunologist specialising in developing mRNA vaccines for viruses like SARS-CoV-2, HCV, HIV, Zika, and other flaviviruses.

Yannan is the head of Biomaterials and Immune Engineering Laboratory at SAiGENCI. His lab leverages biomaterial engineering and nanotechnology to develop mRNA-based therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy.

Michael’s research focuses on the molecular virology and cellular interactions of positive sense RNA viruses.

Prof. Sarah Vreugde is the Director of Research of the Department of Otolaryngology at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Her research focuses on the development of novel therapeutics targeting chronic relapsing infections.

Dr Jolly’s research investigates the control of human brain development by mRNA splicing and decay.