Scientific Advisors

Associate Professor Michael Gantier leads the Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity laboratory in the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Disease at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research.  He holds a Masters in Biological / Biosystems Engineering from the University of Technology, Compiegne, France and a PhD in Medicine and Therapeutics from University College, Dublin.

The central theme of Michael’s research is to define how nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) modulate immune responses. He joined Hudson Institute of Medical Research in 2006, working to define the interaction of RNAs with the innate immune system. This led to the discoveries of structural determinants of RNAs which underlie their capacity to activate or inhibit immune responses by Toll Like Receptors (TLRs), an area he continues to investigate. More recently, his laboratory discovered how immune responses could be engaged in damaged cells, with implications in infection, immunity, and cancer through the engagement of the cGAS-STING pathway.

Michael has led his own research group in the Hudson Institute since 2015, and in 2020 was promoted to Associate Professor. He has published 75 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on six PCT patents. Two of these patents were recently licensed to Noxopharm subsidiary Pharmorage. He received the prestigious Milstein Young Investigator award from the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (2010), and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Young Investigator award (2014) among many other international and national awards.

Michael's work has been recognised and awarded a number of substantial grants, his work attracting over $7 million in total grants. He has been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship and, most recently, a $1.5 million NHMRC grant and a $1.5 million Victorian Government grant for work relating to the Hudson / Noxopharm collaboration.

As a respected expert in his field, Michael currently serves as Associate Editor for the prestigious journal Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids and the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research and is on the Advisory Board of Review Commons

Professor Marcel Nold, MD, FRACP is a consultant neonatologist in Monash Newborn, Professor for Paediatric Immunology with the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University and is a clinician-scientist at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research with a focus on interventional immunology and anti-inflammatory cytokines.  He studied medicine at the JW Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany and has worked in Germany, the USA and Australia.

Marcel’s work in translational molecular medicine aspires to develop and advance novel cytokine-based therapeutics towards clinical application, to bring urgently needed relief to patients with autoinflammatory and autoimmune illnesses such as systemic lupus erythematosus as well as viral illnesses such as influenza and COVID-19.

Marcel has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and is named on three patent families. His standing in cytokine research is evidenced by his key publications in Nature Immunology, Science Immunology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Marcel’s work has been recognised with multiple awards over three continents including the Georges Köhler Prize by the German Society of Immunology (2011) and the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Research Enterprise, Monash University (2018).  He has attracted over $22M in grant funding since his arrival in Australia in 2010.  As a sought-after expert and thought leader in his field, he has presented over 30 invited talks since 2011.

Prof Naresh Kumar is Professor of Organic / Medicinal Chemistry at the School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney. He completed his PhD in the synthesis of novel anticancer compounds at the University of Wollongong.

Naresh has a strong track record in the design and synthesis of bioactive molecules, the major emphasis of his research has been in heterocyclic chemistry and, more recently, in medicinal chemistry and biomaterials.

 He has collaborated extensively with industry partners, giving him considerable experience in commercial development and was a founding member and chemistry team leader of UNSW spin-off company Biosignal Ltd. Naresh is an inventor on 27 patents covering a number of different technologies.

He has published 290 original papers in major peer-reviewed journals and seven book chapters and has attracted competitive research funding from ARC (Discovery and Linkage project grants), NHMRC (Project, Ideas and Development grants), and commercial contract research funding from the Australian biotech industry.

Professor Phil Hansbro is Director of the Centre for Inflammation, Centenary Institute and University of Technology Sydney, Deputy Direct of Centenary and a Conjoint Professor in the Priority Research Centre for Immune Health at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) and University of Newcastle, Australia.

Phil is exploring how the immune system, and in particular the inflammatory process, contribute to the progression of chronic respiratory diseases. He has established internationally renowned research programs and his group has developed several novel mouse models of important diseases including COPD, severe, steroid-insensitive asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, influenza, COVID-19 and lung cancer, to substantially further the understanding of these diseases and to develop novel therapies. He is named on nine patents.

Publishing extensively in influential journals, with over 470 publications and multiple collaborative clinical and multi-disciplinary studies, Phil  is also on the editorial board of seven journals, including the high impact American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

As a highly respected researcher, Phil regularly sits on grant review panels and has a substantial record of obtaining nationally competitive grants, having been awarded over $50M in grants over his career.  His commitment to his field has resulted in his contribution to the convening of multiple scientific conferences and he has been recognised with multiple awards including The HMRI award for research excellence (2013) and the Lung Health Legends Award, Lung Foundation of Australia (2023). Phil is an active advocate for respiratory research in lobby groups and is regularly in the press promoting scientific research and funding.

Associate Professor Amanda Saracino is a clinical and academic dermatologist. She leads the dermatology connective tissue disease clinic at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne and is an early-career researcher with a growing clinical and translational research program focusing on underlying aetiopathogenesis, molecular subtyping and targeted therapeutics for the skin manifestations of autoimmune rheumatic diseases (in particular lupus erythematosus and scleroderma – both systemic sclerosis and morphoea). Alongside this, Amanda has a busy private practice at Melbourne Dermatology Clinic.

A/Prof Saracino graduated from Monash University medical school in 2007 as Dux and recipient of the Sophie Davis Memorial Prize for the highest aggregate of marks for the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medical Science. She completed her dermatology specialist training in both Melbourne (Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists; recipient of the Ken Paver and President’s medals for academic excellence) and London (Royal College of Physicians / General Medical Council).

A/Prof Saracino has a PhD from University College London in the molecular aetiopathogenesis of autoimmune sclerotic skin diseases, and now holds an Associate Professor post at UCL, where she continues to collaborate.

As a respected authority in the field of skin manifestations of autoimmune connective tissue diseases, Amanda is a regular invited speaker, chair, and expert peer reviewer nationally and internationally.