CAREERS PANEL

Nick Wong 

Nick is a member of the Monash Bioinformatics Platform and based at the Central Clinical School, The Alfred Hospital. He obtained his PhD in 2006 under Prof K. H. Andy Choo, University of Melbourne looking at the epigenetics of neocentromeres. Nick continued on to study the extent of DNA methylation markers in a range of cancers including paediatric ALL before moving to an industry R and D role at Pacific Edge, in Dunedin NZ, looking at bladder cancer biomarkers.  Nick formally trained in molecular biology and has a keen interest in genomic technologies and is currently an IMNIS (https://imnis.org.au/) Mentor for PhD students. His Linked in Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-wong-107469a/ 

Twitter: @methylnick

Sara Ballouz

Sara obtained her PhD from the University of New South Wales and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2013, working with Drs Merridee Wouters and Bruno Gaeta. She then moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for my postdoctoral training with Dr Jesse Gillis. In 2020, Sara started my own group at the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Her central scientific interest has been to understand the genetic architecture of disease. With data from the genome, transcriptome, epigenome and proteome increasing exponentially, robust tools and practices need to be established to analyse this deluge, in particular if it is to be applied to personalised medicine.

Twitter: @SaraBallouz

Jennifer Boer

Dr. Jennifer Boer is a postdoctoral researcher at RMIT, committed to the study of vaccines in different disease contexts. To this effect she has progressed to acquire cross-disciplinary expertise in bioinformatics, neuroscience, and immunology. Jennifer has completed her bachelor in Biotechnology at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, after which she moved to the Netherlands to complete a Research Master in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience, majoring in clinical and molecular neuroscience. During her masters she completed a research project in Vancouver at the University of British Colombia after which she was offered a PhD position at the University Medical Centre of Groningen in the Netherlands. Here she investigated the use of a bacterial compound as a therapeutic option for malignant brain tumours. Following the completion of her PhD, she moved to Melbourne where she is currently studying how to optimize vaccination benefits in the elderly in a large-scale human trial in Tasmania, using a systems vaccinology approach.

Twitter: @JenniferC_Boer 

Monther Alhamdoosh

Dr Monther Alhamdoosh obtained a PhD in Computer Science and Computer Engineering (with a major in Machine Learning and Bioinformatics) from La Trobe University, Australia, an MSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a BEng in Informatics (with a major in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Languages Processing) from the University of Aleppo, Syria. Monther pursued a successful academic career where he received several distinction awards and scholarships for his outstanding performance in coursework and research. Monther had worked as a software developer, AI engineer, research assistant, tutor and lecturer at several universities in Australia and overseas. He also worked for some time in the industry in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Control Engineering. His research interests include bioinformatics, computational intelligence, big data analytics and IoT healthcare. He has published journal and conference articles and authored a book on the theory of machine learning and its applications in bioinformatics. At CSL, Monther leads the Bioinformatics and Artificial Intelligence team in the Global Research Data Science group where his team contributes to solving cutting-edge problems in the biomedical field. His team works very closely with global groups at CSL Research to identify new biomarkers and understand the mechanism of action of drug targets and diseases with a focus on improving patients’ lives. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malhamdoosh/ 

Anastasios Papaioannou

Anastasios holds a BSc in Physics and MSc in Computational Physics. He also holds a Ph.D.  in Computational Biophysics/Medical Physics from the University of Sydney, with his research focus mainly being on computational physics applied in medicine and biology. He has over 6 years of experience as an academic tutor and eResearch training Instructor, helping researchers enhance their skills and find solutions to their research challenges and questions. With over 8 years of experience in research, Anastasios was an active member of the International and European Biophysics society, participated and presented his work in several international and national conferences. Possessing an extensive research background as well as a deep technical understanding and expertise on research data and technologies, data and business analytics, and programming, Anastasios works collaboratively with universities, research organisations, and government departments, to develop and implement solutions to increase research productivity. As Intersect’s eResearch Training Manager and Lead Research Data Scientist, he has led various national and state level projects and has been involved in several national eResearch initiatives.   

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasios-papaioannou/?originalSubdomain=au