Organizers

Committee

Dr Denis Bauer (Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO) leads the transformational bioinformatics with expertise is in computational genome engineering and BigData compute systems. She is involved in national and international initiatives tasked to include genomic information into medical practice funded with $200M.
Dr Gaetan Burgio (The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU) MD, PhD is a mouse geneticist, a group leader and Head of the Transgenesis Core Facility at The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU in Canberra, Australia. His laboratory focuses on the elucidation of the host response to infectious diseases (malaria, bacterial infection) using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technologies to discover novel therapies. His research is also focus on the development of genome editing technologies in mouse and in cell lines.
Dr Marco Herold (WEHI, Melbourne) is a Laboratory Head in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division at WEHI. He is an expert in using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to model human diseases, in particular cancer. During his PhD and first postdoctoral studies at the University of Würzburg (Germany) he was trained in cell death research and mouse genetics. Since his arrival at WEHI he combined these two research streams to investigate the functions of genes required for the continuous growth of cancer cells. In addition, Dr Herold developed a new major research interest: using CRISPR library screening to discover novel regulators of apoptosis with the aim to thereby identify targets for cancer therapy.
Dr James Doecke (Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO) is a statistician working with the CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Division. Leading a small team of statisticians at CSIRO, James’s main interests are in the application of statistical methods to biomarker data from Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer Genomics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. With a back ground in biostatistics, statistical genetics and molecular biology, James has a keen interest in understanding the basic science behind the research prior to attempting to answer any questions arising from the data. In his spare time, James loves fitness, riding motocross and camping in the great outdoors with his family.
Dr Mark Tizard (Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO)
Dr Tim Doran (Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO)
Dr Laurence Wilson (Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO) is a Post-doc in the Transformational Bioinformatics team at CSIRO, working under Denis Bauer, specializing in using BigData analytics to design computational tools to assist in the process of genome-editing, with a focus on the CRISPR-Cas9 system. He has completed a PhD at the Australian National University and a post-doc at the Institut Curie in Paris, where he investigated the link between chromatin and genome function. Since joining CSIRO he has expanded on this work, building models to predict how chromatin influences the activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 system.
Dr Veera Baladandayuthapani (MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA) is currently a Professor and Institute Faculty Scholar in the Department of Biostatistics at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. His research interests are mainly in high-dimensional data modeling and Bayesian inference. This includes functional data analyses, Bayesian graphical models, Bayesian semi-/non parametric models and machine learning. These methods are motivated by large and complex datasets such as high-throughput genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics and proteomics as well as high-resolution neuro- and cancer- imaging. A special focus is on developing integrative models combining different sources of data for biomarker discovery and clinical prediction to aid precision/translational medicine. His work has been published in top statistical/biostatistical/bioinformatics and biomedical journals. He has also co-authored a book on Bayesian analysis of gene expression data. He currently holds multiple PI-level grants from NIH and NSF to develop innovative and advanced biostatistical and bioinformatics methods for big datasets in oncology. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and elected member of the International Statistical Institute.
Associate Professor Kaylene Simpson (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) heads the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (VCFG). The VCFG enables researchers Australia-wide to perform unbiased gene discovery using high throughput gene targeting approaches such as CRISPR/cas9 and RNA interference, quantitative Reverse Phase Protein Arrays, boutique compound screening and high content imaging.  She leads a highly experienced team who actively engage with researchers to help drive their research projects to fruition.
Associate Professor Simpson is a molecular cell biologist who specialised in breast cancer invasion and metastasis while a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. She has a wealth of experience in assay development, data interpretation and analysis and overall guidance in the area of functional genomics.  She contributes intellectually to all projects and technology initiatives within the platform and collaborates with several Peter Mac Group Leaders to supervise PhD students.