Local Organising Committee

Dr Yanshan Zhu 

The University of Queensland, QLD 

Local Organising Committee Chair

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland. I completed my undergraduate and master’s degrees in Public Health and Epidemiology at Sun Yat-Sen University in China before earning my PhD in Virology from UQ in 2024 under the supervision of Prof Kirsty Short, with a thesis focused on age-related host susceptibility and disease severity in paediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection. I have a multidisciplinary academic background spanning microbiology, immunology, and epidemiology and my research integrates clinical cohort analysis, primary epithelial cell modelling, and transcriptomics to investigate how host age and comorbidities influence viral pathogenesis and immune response. 

Miss Megan Airey 

The University of Queensland, QLD land, QLD 

L

Megan Airey is a second-year PhD candidate at the University of Queensland’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. She completed her BSc (Hons) in 2023, where her research focused on the evolution of avian influenza viruses in poultry. Her current doctoral research investigates the role of innate immune training in post-viral disease, with a particular focus on Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Her work aims to better understand how prior viral exposure shapes long-term immune responses and contributes to chronic disease outcomes, with the goal of informing future therapeutic and preventative strategies.

Miss Georgina McCallum  

The University of Queensland, QLD land, QLD 

L

Georgina is a final year PhD candidate at the University of Queensland working with Professor Kirsty Short. Her work focuses on improving diagnostic tests for pandemic and seasonal viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza. Georgina is interested in how wet lab science and computational science can be used together to help understand complex problems.  She also enjoys communicating science in a variety of different settings, including academic teaching, professional societies, and in the community. When she’s not in the lab, Georgina can be found running or cycling between various bakeries in Brisbane.

Dr Keng Chew  

The University of Queensland, QLD 

Dr Chew is a postdoctoral researcher in Professsor Kirsty Short’s lab in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience (University of Queensland). He completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne and held research roles in the Netherlands, where he received the Pieter Langerhuizen Labertuszoon-Fonds award. Dr Chew has worked for biotech startups in the Netherlands and later returned to Australia, working across healthcare and research. He has returned to research and now his research focused on understanding the mechanism of post-viral disease in covid and influenza.

Dr Emma Grant

La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (lims), la trobe university, VIC

I am a LIMS Bruce Stone Research Fellow (and former NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow) and Group Leader at La Trobe University, leading a research team investigating immune responses to viral infection. I am a 2025–2026 Superstar of STEM and an advocate for early- and mid-career researchers and carers, working to increase the visibility of women and non-binary people in STEM. My research aims to inform next-generation therapeutics and vaccines through defining immune responses in high-risk populations and identifying virus-derived targets, with a strong focus on community engagement and real-world impact.

@Emma_J_Grant

Dr Sarah Annesley 

La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, la trobe university, VIC 

Dr Sarah Annesley is a mid-career biomedical researcher whose work focuses on uncovering the biological mechanisms underlying ME/CFS and Long COVID, with the goal of identifying biomarkers to facilitate development of a diagnostic test, to increase understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms and to develop therapies to help treat the diseases. Her research recognises ME/CFS and Long COVID as biologically complex, multisystem disorders and that advancing the field requires close collaboration across disciplines and genuine partnership with people with lived experience. Her laboratory studies how immune dysregulation, altered cellular metabolism, altered gene expression and microbiome dysfunction contribute to the development and persistence of ME/CFS and long COVID.

Dr Emily Eriksson   

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), VIC

Dr Emily Eriksson is an infectious disease immunologist at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medical Biology.  Her research program focuses on understanding the dynamic spectrum of immunological perturbations that occur during infection and their role in acute disease and long-term complications, with a particular emphasis on SARS-CoV-2, and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Her current research integrates systems immunology and translational approaches to identify predictive biomarkers for diagnostic applications and to uncover novel therapeutic targets aimed at mitigating severe and chronic disease.

Dr Dimitra Chatzileontiadou

La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (lims), la trobe university, VIC

I am an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at La Trobe University, Australia. I earned my PhD with Distinction in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Thessaly, Greece. After receiving an international IKY Fellowship, I moved to Australia in 2017 for postdoctoral research first at Monash and then at La Trobe University. My research focuses on identifying and characterising immune cell responses towards different pathogens, with a particular emphasis on HIV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

@DimitraChatzil1

Dr Anurag Adhikari 

La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (lims), la trobe university, VIC

I am an infectious disease immunologist at La Trobe University with expertise in human adaptive immune responses and translational immunology. My recent work has focused on Long COVID, investigating immune dysregulation through cytokine bead array profiling and autoantibody responses to better understand biomarkers and mechanisms associated with persistent post-viral symptoms. My broader research interests include antibody-mediated effector functions, T-cell immunity, and immune memory following infection and vaccination. I completed my undergraduate studies in Biotechnology at Purbanchal University, Nepal, and my PhD in Pathology at the University of New South Wales, Australia.