BioBriefing

Date:

Wednesday 14 May 2025

Time:

4:00 – 4:30pm Registrations open
4:30 – 6:00pm BioBriefing Presentations and Panel Discussion
6:00 – 7:00pm BioCheers Networking Function

Venue:

Digital Innovation Hub,
Level 2, Jenny Graves Building,
La Trobe University Bundoora Campus

Cost:

AusBiotech Members: Free
Non-member Attendees: $100.00

Chair: Dr Jane Leong, Director Development, Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Medical Innovation (ACAMI)

Jane has over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, holding senior positions locally and internationally in different R&D functions.
Prior to joining ACAMI, Jane was at Moderna where she established medical affairs teams in Australia and Asia Pacific countries, Advances in mRNA Science meetings and global research fellowships. During her tenure in CSL and GSK, Jane has led global vaccine portfolios, therapeutics and vaccine launches, regulatory approvals and clinical development programs.
Jane holds a medical degree and Master in Business Administration from the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Dr Sonja Flott, Chief Business Development Officer, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute

Sonja leads and manage the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute’s identification, development, and protection of intellectual property to facilitate innovation and commercialisation, which enables the Institute’s mission to discover and develop breakthrough cancer therapies.
She has a scientific background in cancer research, holding a PhD from the University of Dundee. Following this, Sonja pursued postdoctoral research at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, specialising in genome stability maintenance, DNA repair and DNA damage response signalling.
Furthermore, Sonja has experience in business development across both industry and academia, 8 years of expertise in business development, portfolio management and product development at Abcam plc in Cambridge, and 5 years in commercialisation and business development at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne, focusing on the advancement of immuno-oncology technologies.

Patrick is a recognized international leader in cancer research with PhD training in immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, and postdoctoral training in genetics and cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA. Patrick led a lab for over 15 years at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, before becoming La Trobe University’s inaugural Professor of Cancer Biology in 2016.
In 2018, Patrick established and became Director of the Research Centre for Molecular Cancer Prevention at La Trobe University. Patrick has received multiple awards including a Merck Fellowship, Special Fellowship of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, and consecutive Career Development Fellowships and Senior Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Patrick’s current research include investigating the molecular mechanisms of tissue architecture in cancer and regeneration, developing the therapeutic targeting of tissue disorganisation for cancer prevention, identifying the evolutionary origins of cancer in the first multicellular animals, and characterising the effects of space and microgravity environments on regeneration and cancer progression.

Dr. Saimon M. Silva's research focus is on the development of translational point-of-need biosensors for biomedical and environmental analysis. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales in 2018, where he developed DNA biosensors based on gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles. He then conducted postdoctoral training at Swinburne University of Technology where he extended his expertise in antifouling surfaces for varied biomedical surfaces and published seminal studies in this area.
During his postdoctoral training, he also developed an innovative electrochemical sensing technology for the detection of cancer-associated antigens, which was licensed for commercialization to his industry partner Universal Biosensors. In 2023 he joined La Trobe University as a Lecturer in Chemistry, where he continues to drive the engagement between the university and industry. He is also a highly collaborative researcher who has substantial experience in driving collaborations that generates real-world impact in the diagnostic field. Dr. Moraes Silva is a passionate educator and has taught Chemistry students at all undergraduate levels.

Prior to joining in La Trobe, he was Foundation Chair and Head of Discipline of Internet of Things Engineering at James Cook University, Cairns, Australia. Due to his instrumental leadership in establishing Australia’s first accredited Internet of Things Engineering degree program, he was selected into Pearcy Foundation’s Hall of Fame in October 2018. He is an elected Fellow of the IET in UK and Engineers Australia. He received the La Trobe Research Excellence Award in 2021, Pearcey Entrepreneurship Award in 2017, Engineers Australia Cairns Engineer of the Year in 2017, and TNQ Innovation Award in 2016.
He has been awarded several prestigious fellowship titles, including a Queensland International Fellowship, an Endeavour Research Fellowship, a Smart Futures Fellow, and a JSPS Invitational Fellow. He was the Vice Chair of the IEEE Northern Australia Section from 2016-2020. He is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Access, and Nature journal of Scientific Reports.
He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers including 3 books and nearly 300 journal articles. He as the General Chair of the 1st IEEE Annual Congress on AIoT in 2024. He has been selected into Stanford University's Top 2% Scientists list for four consecutive years (2020-2023).