RHD STUDENT – AUSTRLALIAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICE PROJECTS

PROJECT: Isolation of novel typing antibodies that bind hybrid glycophorin on red blood cells

Serena Ekman is a PhD student, who is currently undertaking her studies in a collaborative effort between the Brisbane Australian Red Cross Blood Service precinct and the ARC Training Centre in Biopharmaceutical Innovation at the AIBN for her project Isolation of novel typing antibodies that bind hybrid glycophorin on red blood cells. Serena has recently completed her degree in Advanced Science from the University of New South Wales majoring in Biotechnology and Microbiology, as well achieving a first class honors at the Garvan Medical Research Institute. She has also participated in a variety of science communication and volunteering events such as the Australian Museum Science Festival, presenting a biotechnology startup for the Peter Farrell Cup Pitching Competition, and volunteering with the Young Scientists of Australia.

Qualifications

BSc Advanced Science (Biotechnology/Microbiology),  University of New South Wales.

RHD STUDENT – AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICE PROJECTS

PROJECT: Identifying novel red blood cell targets as a basis for development of biopharmaceuticals for treatment of infectious diseases

Sandra A. Sowah is a trained biochemist with research and teaching experience. She obtained her degree in biochemistry from the University of Ghana where she completed her Bachelor of Science and Master of Philosophy trainings respectively. She has also completed a short internship program at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in 2014, as part of their Next Generation Scientists program. There she worked mainly on establishing a degranulation assay.
For her master’s level dissertation, she evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube assay for detection of tuberculosis in contacts of TB patients. She has also worked on several projects in different fields, with particular focus on laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases. Notably, she has profiled host immunological responses to recently discovered, differentially expressed Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins from exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis to active TB disease in a case-contact study in Ghana.
Sandra’s research interests are:

1. Laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases
2. Immunology of infectious diseases
3. Vaccine development

Qualifications

BSc and MPhil in Biochemistry, University of Ghana.

RHD STUDENT – CSL CHARACTERISATION PROJECT

PROJECT: Comparability studies of biopharmaceuticals produced by fed-batch or perfusion culture

Dinora Roche Recinos graduated with honors as a Biochemist and microbiologist from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Later on, she obtained an Australian Award Scholarship (AUSAid), to pursue her masters degree in Biotechnology at the University of Queensland. For her thesis work, at the Australian Institute of Bioengeneering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), she worked on Production and characterization of protein scaffolds specifically presenting peptides that target VEGFR-2 and EGFR for Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). She was also awarded with the Summer School Scholarship at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, for a genomics fellowship.
She is currently working as an university lecturer and associate researcher as well as Technical coordinator of the Plant Protection Laboratory of the Center for Agricultural and Food Technology Studies at the Research Institute of Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

Qualifications

BSc in Biochemistry/Microbiology, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. M.Sc in Biotechnology, University of Queensland

RHD STUDENT – CSL DISCOVERY PROJECT

PROJECT: Isolation and characterisation of novel antibodies against cell-surface biomarkers

Nadya Panagides obtained her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences with a sub-major in Genetics from the University of Queensland.  She successfully completed two summer semester research projects and her honours degree in the Venom Evolution Laboratory, working with Dr Bryan Fry. Her venoms based research involved proteomically characterising a variety of African viper and cobra venoms, and for her honours thesis in particular, assessing their toxicological activity and potential as anti-cancer agents. She continued her work with venom toxins by volunteering at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, by working in Dr John Miles’ Human Immunity Laboratory under the supervision of Dr Maria Ikonomopoulou. She began to develop a keen interest in immunology and started working as a Research Assistant in Dr Barbara Rolfe’s laboratory at the AIBN, where her research focus shifted to cancer immunology, and more specifically the role of complement components C3a and C5a in tumour progression. Recently, Nadya was awarded the ARC Training Centre in Biopharmaceutical Innovation PhD scholarship. Her project will involve developing platform methodologies for antibody discovery against membrane proteins.

Qualifications

BSc in Biomedical Sciences (Genetics), University of Queensland.

RHD STUDENT – PATHEON UPSTREAM BIOPROCESSING PROJECTS

PROJECT: Cell line development for high cell density culture

Michael MacDonald is a Biological Engineer pursuing a career in pharma R&D. He graduated from the University of Queensland in 2014 with a master’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering with honours. As an undergraduate researcher, Michael has worked in human stem cell culture and microbioreactor design, and has been published for work on immunoglobulin profiling and assay development for saliva-based matrices. Michael has transferred from the downstream process department Patheon Biologics Brisbane to pursue a PhD centred on cell line development for the Patheon XD proces.

Qualifications

Masters Degree with Honours in Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Queensland

RHD STUDENT – CSL CHARACTERISATION PROJECTS

PROJECT: Engineering and production of recombinant proteins with appropriate glycostructures for early in vivo studies

Ruby Pelingon will be joining Dr. Benjamin Schulz team at Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology around mid this year (2017) to study PhD titled “Engineering and production of recombinant proteins with appropriate glycostructures for early in vivo studies”. Currently, she is still working at Institute for Molecular Bioscience, with the Cooper group, as a research assistant undertaking ADME/PK studies for the NLRP3 inhibitor project. Prior to this, Ruby worked at Interphil Laboratories responsible for analytical method development and validation. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree from Silliman University.

Qualifications

BSc  in Chemistry, Silliman University

RHD STUDENT – APA SCHOLARSHIP ON AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICE PROJECTS

PROJECT: An in vitro investigation of human antibodies to blood group antigens: Application for improved patient and blood donor management

Nysa’s Honours project on developing an assay to quantify sheep inflammatory cytokines was a collaboration between  the Critical Care Research Group at the Prince Charles Hospital and Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Nysa’s Honours project also received a New Investigator grant from The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation. This assay would help characterise the inflammatory response in an animal model of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) receiving transfusion with either fresh or old blood.
Upon completion of Nysa’s Honours, Nysa was then employed by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service as a Research Assistant. For just over three years in this position, she gained knowledge and laboratory skills in resolving the complexities of blood typing the RhD antigen when there is a gene variant. As a PhD student, Nysa will be continuing to explore the realm of blood typing with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and ARC Training Centre for Biopharmaceutical Innovation at the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Applied Science (Medical Science) and Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Honours), Queensland University of Technology.

RHD STUDENT – APA SCHOLARSHIP ON AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICE PROJECTS

PROJECT: An analysis of systems that modify red blood cell (RBC) antigens and their role in RBC maturation, lifespan and disease resistance.

Katelyn graduated from UQ with a BE/BSc in 2013, where she majored in Chemical and Biological Engineering and Genetics. She completed her BSc(hons) with a specialisation in Biochemistry in 2014 and developed thermostable Cytochrome P450 enzymes for drug development.  Her research interests include, broadly, protein biochemistry, enzymology and recombinant expression systems. She recently started her PhD in partnership with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service where her research focuses on carbohydrate modification systems in mice and how these systems impact red blood cell surface antigens and their role in disease resistance. In her spare time, Katelyn enjoys sewing, millinery, fashion design and regularly competes in Fashions on the Field events.

Qualifications

BE/BSc in Chemical and Biological Engineering and Genetics, University of Queensland.

RHD STUDENT – PATHEON/GE DOWNSTREAM BIOPROCESSING PROJECT

PROJECT: From traditional to integrated continuous downstream bioprocess for valuable products

Kristina Pleitt is currently employed in the downstream Process Development (PD) group at Patheon, a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, in St. Louis, MO USA.  She’s worked in the downstream PD group for 6 yrs developing and scaling biological purification processes for monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins.  Her educational background is in Chemical Engineering (degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology).  Kristina is an AIBN PhD student working on developing efficient continuous chromatography processes for the biopharmaceutical industry.

Qualifications

RHD STUDENT: PATHEON/GE DOWNSTREAM BIOPROCESSING PROJECT

PROJECT: Membrane-based separations for biopharmaceutical purification

Sathish was part of the Downstream process development team at Pfizer Biologics Development Centre, Chennai (India) specialized in purification of monoclonal antibodies. Prior to joining Pfizer, he was employed as Associate Engineer for 2 years in Downstream Process Team at Intas Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad (India), where he worked on late stage process development for Bio-similar molecules. His stint of 4 years in Bio-pharma industry helped him in identifying the research area of his interest and the career path he would like to take. Sathish strongly believes that this opportunity at CBI, while help him gain in-depth understanding and broaden his expertise in working with bio-pharmaceuticals. His Educational background is in Bio-process technology (Post graduate degree from Institute of Chemical technology, India). He has completed his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biotechnology from North Maharastra University, India.

RHD STUDENT – PATHEON UPSTREAM BIOPROCESSING PROJECTS

PROJECT: Examining metabolic demands for continuous bioprocessing – in silico modelling

Qualifications: BSc in Molecular and Applied Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen. MSc in Biotechnology, Lund University

Fascinated by the versatility of molecular processes and their applicability to human problems Matthias decided pursue a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology at the RWTH Aachen, Germany in which he got introduced to a wide range of different aspects of biotechnology.
Longing for more practical and international experience he completed a 6 month internship at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biotechnology located in the US where he worked on the development of a universal VLP construct expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana and with an intended application in vaccination.
Matthias then went on to Sweden to complete a Masters program in Biotechnology. The applied profile gave him multiple opportunities to improve his lab skills, peaking in a master thesis in which he focused on the bacterial conversion of lignin and underlying metabolic pathways.
During his PhD he will examine the metabolic demand in high density CHO cell cultures. Matthias considers himself extremely lucky to work in an environment surrounded by great minds with a large variety of backgrounds and close collaboration with industry. Overall Matthias is eager to apply all the knowledge he has gained so far in a highly applied project and make the next step in his career.

RHD STUDENT: CSL CHARACTERISATION PROJECTS

PROJECT: Investigating differential expression of antibodies and coagulation factors at the level of cellular processing

Aiden graduated from the University of Melbourne where he completed a BSc majoring in Zoology. He went on to complete a Masters of Biotechnology at RMIT where he graduated with distinction. Whilst at RMIT, he performed cell line engineering on HEK cells employing CRISPR and utilised tmFRET to study conformational changes in GLIC to gather information on anesthetic mechanism of action on mammalian pLGICs. He has recently begun his PhD in collaboration with CSL where he will examine cellular processing for the differential expression of coagulation factors.

RHD STUDENT: AUSTRLALIAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICE PROJECTS

PROJECT: Development of antibodies against human neutrophil antigens

Filip undertook his undergraduate studies at Griffith University where he completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science majoring in biochemistry. He went on to do his honours at the Menzies Institute at Griffith University Gold Coast campus within the Tony Perkins Group where he looked into the effect of selenium supplementation on endogenous antioxidant capacity in early gestation. Graduating in 2015, Filip remained on as a research assistant and continued his investigation into the effect of selective antioxidant capacity on mitochondrial oxidative stress working on several publications. Recently Filip has begun a PhD at CBI working in collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) to work towards the development of monoclonal antibodies against Human Neutrophil Antigens (HNA) implicated in severe forms blood transfusion related disorders.

RHD STUDENT – APA SCHOLARSHIP IN INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

PROJECT: Engineering CHO-XL99

Matt graduated from UQ with an Bachelors degree with honours in Chemical Engineering. For his final undergraduate project he designed a factory which produced Furfural from Woody feedstocks. His PhD project aims to produce a robust CHO cell line, capable of transiently expressing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and bi-specific antibodies (BsAbs) at high yields, through a process of genetic modifications. A previous study by Orellana., C et al identified a set of genes which were overexpressed in a high producing CHO cell line. Several of these genes have been chosen for over-expression and elucidation following a series of transient transfections of mAbs and BsAbs. Matt enjoys working in cancer research, tutoring and teaching. Matt reads widely in his spare time and is particularly fond of philosophical topics relating to ethics and psychology.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland.

RHD STUDENT – PATHEON (part of Thermofisher) UPSTREAM BIOPROCESSING PROJECTS

PROJECT: Examining metabolic demands for continuous bioprocessing – omics data

Craig attained bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering (Hons) and Bioprocess technology (Hons, Class I) from the University of Queensland. Craig worked as an undergraduate engineer at Synergen Met’s modular cyanide plant, where he gained experience in dynamic modelling, design, and operation of process equipment. With a keen interest for systems modelling, he undertook an honours thesis in modelling complex biological systems within the context of bioprocess optimization. In collaboration with Zoetis, a global leader in veterinary medicines, and under the supervision of Dr Esteban Marcellin, Craig used high resolution ‘omics data in conjunction with a metabolic model to compute new hypotheses for cell line optimisation.

Inspired by the fine-tuned internal chaos of biological cells, Craig seeks to understand and probe the mechanisms of life and programmed cell death (apoptosis) in engineered mammalian cell lines. By developing computational models and using cutting edge methods in mass spectrometry he has partnered with Patheon (part of Thermofisher) in a PhD project which works toward enhancing the robustness of biologics-producing cell lines.

Qualifications

Bachelors degrees in Chemical Engineering (Hons) and Bioprocess Technology (Hons, Class 1), University of Queensland

RHD STUDENT: CSL DISCOVERY PROJECT

PROJECT: Development of novel bio-conjugation strategies for targeting polymeric nanomedicines for cancer imaging and diagnostics

Suchada is a pharmacist with a keen interest in biopharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing. She graduated with Doctor of Pharmacy (Hons) from Chulalongkorn University, where she majored in Pharmaceutical Science: Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy. For her undergraduate project, she formulated and developed nanoparticles for transmucosal delivery.

Suchada went on to do a Master of Biotechnology at the University of Queensland. Whilst at UQ, her final master’s project was glycoproteomic analysis of sparkling wine by LC/MS-MS within Ben Schulz group. She also obtained UQ winter and summer research scholarships at PACE and IMB, respectively. Throughout her studies, she has volunteered in hospitals, voluntary camps, and volunteering events at universities and would love to continue doing these. Suchada will pursue her PhD where she will focus on nanoparticle delivery systems for antibodies against intracellular targets.

Qualifications

Doctor of Pharmacy with honours, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Master of Biotechnology, University of Queensland