TRI CEO's Invited Guest Speaker - Partnership Seminar 

The strategic direction of AIBN & research collaboration opportunities

Professor Trent Munro
AIBN, The University of Queensland
Title: Bench to Commercial Manufacturing: Making Vaccines at Pandemic Speed
Abstract: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the resultant COVID-19 pandemic highlighted both the need for both rapid vaccine platform advancement and the importance of academic partnership with industry. Few within the scientific community would have predicted that multiple vaccines would be rolled out into the community in less than 12 months.  However, as we are still in the early stages of this pandemic, many questions remain about correlates of protection as they relate to the durability of both natural infection and vaccine induced immunity. Thanks for advances in genomic surveillance we are also watching in real time as the virus adapts to the essentially immune-naïve global population. In order to ensure a future looking strategy for COVID-19 vaccine development, it is likely that additional tools will be required that use orthogonal approaches to the current wave of vaccine candidates. Adjuvanted, recombinant subunit vaccines, provide a potential approach for future vaccines.  In this presentation I will cover the development of a molecular-clamp based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the journey from lab bench to commercial scale production and subsequent redesign.
Biography: Professor Munro is a Senior Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland and Director of the National Biologics Facility and Program Director of the CEPI funded Rapid Response Vaccine pipeline. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of Process Development at Amgen Inc., based in California. Prof. Munro has a PhD in Protein Biochemistry from UQ and completed postdoctoral studies in cell biology and developmental genetics at the Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School and the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge

Title: Biomimetic Materials the key to Controlling Cellular Activity
Abstract: Fibrous networks of biopolymers are found in both the intracellular and extracellular matrix. From the microscopic scale of a single cell to the macroscopic scale of fibrous tissues, biopolymers with different stiffness control cellular processes such as cell differentiation, proliferation, transportation and communication. The science behind cellular control in 3D will be discussed.
Biography: Professor Alan Rowan became Director of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland in 2016. He oversees a team of 400 researchers and professional staff in translational research at the interface of Nanotechnology and Biology.  Professor Rowan is currently an ARC Laureate Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, and board member of: The Dow Centre for Sustainability; and of UQ Senior Management group.
Professor Rowan is a world renowned physical organic chemist and a strong advocate for excellence in fundamental science with the aim to solve societies’ problems.  He has a h-index of 72, more than 350 publications, cited more than 19,000 times, 18 of which are in Science, Nature or the Nature family. 

Venue & Time:
Tuesday 6 July, 12:00-1:00pm, TRI Auditorium
To join via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86042148456