Professor Wieland Meyer obtained her PhD in 1992 from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, establishing fungal strain typing. He undertook postdoctoral training at Duke University Medical Center, US, from 1992 to 1995, working on the phylogeny/epidemiology of human pathogenic yeasts. Wieland established the Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory, University of Sydney/Westmead Hospital, Australia, in 1995. He is a professor at the Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, professor at Curtin Medical School at Curtin University, Australia, and guest professor at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil. His research focuses on the evolution, phylogeny, speciation, population genetics, genomics, molecular epidemiology, development of reliable molecular identification techniques for human fungal pathogens, the impact of mycoses on global health and public health preparedness to respond to fungal disease outbreaks.

Wieland is leading an international research team investigating the global epidemiology of the Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii, and to establish quality-controlled sequence databases (its.mycologylab.org) for fungal DNA barcoding and bringing metagenomics to the patient’s bedside for fast identification of human fungal pathogens, including the COVID-19-associated mucormycoses, to guide antifungal treatment. His research is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia, the National Institute of Health, US, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil, and industry partners. Wieland is the curator of the Westmead Hospital Medical Mycology Culture Collection, housing over 11 000 strains. He has published over 260 research papers, has 12 331 total citations and h-index of 57. He has been the president of the International Mycological Association since 2018, was the vice-president and general secretary of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology and the vice-president (1998–2002) and president (2002–2005) of the Australasian Mycological Society.

Research interests: medical mycology

Collaboration ideas: Looking to get additional contacts in Brazil to work with specialists in fungal population genetics, fungal resistance and medical mycology. Currently collaborating with Professor Valdilea Veloso and Dr Luciana Trilles at the Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) on the molecular epidemiology of the human pathogenic species of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii species complexes; the molecular identification of human pathogenic fungi, including the COVID-19-associated mucormycoses agents; using NGS and DNA barcoding; the environmental investigation of pathogenic fungi present in Antarctica; and conducting a survey of the environmental presence of azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus strains with the participation of FIOCRUZ at Rio de Janeiro, University of Campinas at Campinas, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul at Campo Grande, Instituto Adolfo Lutz at Sao Paulo, Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro at Uberaba and the Federal University of Piaui at Terresina.

Website: www.mycologylab.org/page/Wieland%20Profile
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9933-8340

Dr Adriana Milazzo MPH is an infectious disease epidemiologist and senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She completed a PhD investigating the relationship between heatwaves and incidences of foodborne disease. No other studies have explored the relationship between heatwaves and foodborne disease; hence this research is unique, with the findings contributing to heat-related foodborne disease prevention in the policy arena, including practical public health interventions at a local level with international adaptability. Prior to working at the university, she worked in Indigenous health and communicable disease control, and coordinated a national sentinel surveillance system for influenza-like illness. Adriana’s research interest is in climate change and population health, infectious diseases, including One Health, and infectious disease social networking patterns.

Adriana is a leading infectious disease epidemiologist. Her response to COVID-19 has required cross-disciplinary approaches to provide timely, high-quality evidence to inform South Australian government policy regarding control measures. She has forged multidisciplinary collaborations with infectious disease physicians and mathematical modellers to understand COVID-19 household transmission patterns in a national study with the Peter Doherty Institute. Adriana has applied what she has learned from her research to contribute to the effective control of COVID-19 in South Australia by training contact tracers, reviewing disease control plans for the mining sector and measuring the effectiveness of policies such as lockdowns and mask wearing. Upskilling public and professionals in Coronavirus transmission, risk assessment and reduction demonstrate is how she has applied her research knowledge/skills to help the community in a time characterised by public uncertainty and fear.

Research interests: Infectious disease epidemiology; surveillance; climate change; COVID-19

Website: https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/adriana.milazzo
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3414-6625

Professor George Milne has an established track record in the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, starting with one of the first spatially explicit models of foot and mouth disease, a devastating disease among ruminant animals. He is a mathematical/computational modeller by training and has developed new mathematical theories for rigorously describing complex systems (such as process algebra and cellular automata), to model both naturally occurring systems (disease spread, crowd movement, bushfire dynamics and engineered systems, digital electronics, traffic flow). He was a pioneer in the development and application of highly detailed, individual-based virus transmission models, the first in Australia and among the first internationally.

George and his research group have applied models developed for Australia and globally to rigorously analyse the effectiveness of disease mitigation strategies, social distancing, vaccination and vector control. These have had a focus on human viruses (pandemic and seasonal influenza, dengue and COVID-19) and animal viruses (foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever and bluetongue). Data generated by George’s research group has been used to inform policy, internationally (World Health Organization: influenza and dengue vaccination) and nationally (Australia: influenza vaccination; Western Australia and Queensland: COVID-19 social distancing and vaccination).

His team’s unique dengue model was the first spatially explicit insect-vectored virus transmission model developed in Australia and has been used to determine the long-term effectiveness of the world’s first licensed dengue vaccine in a Thailand setting. Research involving Australian and international partners led by George conducted mathematical modelling to inform Australia’s future seasonal influenza vaccination policy. His team were the first in Australia to publish results from a COVID-19 modelling study and among the first internationally. Such modelling results have been used to estimate health system demand, in terms of non-ICU and ICU bed demand, research focusing on determining optimal strategies for activating lockdown measures, relaxing social distancing and optimising vaccine use. George has been invited to join international disease modelling consortia and his research has been funded by the World Health Organization, the National Health and Medical Research Council, Meat and Livestock Australia, the Australian Research Council, and Commonwealth, Western Australian and Queensland departments of health.

Research interests: COVID-19 modelling; modelling to inform policy decision making; long-term use of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Collaboration ideas: I lead a small COVID-19 modelling team that analyses mitigation and response measures. We are currently evaluating SARS-CoV-2 vaccination strategies, including vaccinating children and adolescents in addition to adults. We plan to evaluate the need for boosting third doses. We would be very interested in collaborating with Brazilian colleagues to evaluate waning immunity, both from natural infection and due to vaccination. Our modelling has informed COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical intervention responses strategies in two Australian health departments.

Website: https://auscmi.org/posts/containing-delta-variant-outbreaks-in-australia-a-modelling-analysis/
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9796-0600

Dr Luisa Miranda is graduated with a veterinary degree from the Federal Fluminense University, Brazil, in 2007 and completed master’s and PhD studies on clinical research in infectious diseases, at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Brazil, in 2009 and 2013, respectively. She undertook her postdoctoral study at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, from 2013 to 2015, and was employed as a research fellow (young talent researcher) at FIOCRUZ, Brazil, until 2017.

Luisa worked for more than 10 years on animal sporotrichosis, with special emphasis on immunological and pathological aspects, and was an active research collaborator and pathologist in a referral centre for infectious diseases surveillance at FIOCRUZ. Luisa has joined the University of Sydney, Australia, in 2020 as a lecturer of veterinary pathology and works on the pathogenesis of fungal diseases in the context of the host–pathogen–environment interactions.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3689-4109

Dr Melina Mottin received her PhD in physical chemistry at University of Campinas, Brazil, in 2015. Melina is an expert in molecular dynamics simulations, molecular docking and machine learning modelling. She is a post-doc fellow at the Laboratório de Interação Patógeno-Hospedeiro (UnB) developing the project "Artificial intelligence, molecular modelling and experimental evaluation to discover new trypanocidal agents that inhibit Trypanosoma cruzi oligopeptidases". Melina is also a research associate in the Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design – LabMol at the Federal University of Goiás and has been working on the OpenZika Project to prioritize new compounds able to inhibit Zika and Dengue proteins, through the integration of several computational strategies.

ORCID ID: 0003-0878-9029

Dr Shakeel Mowlaboccus is an early-career research scientist in the field of infectious diseases with more than seven years of experience in whole-genome sequencing, bioinformatics analyses, microbial genetics, microbiology, molecular biology and small-scale protein expression. Shakeel has sequenced and analysed more than 4000 bacterial genomes. He specialises in understanding molecular epidemiology and evolution of bacterial pathogens through state-of-the-art genomics.

Professor Ivo Mueller is a leading malaria epidemiologist in the South-West Pacific and a global leader in research, control and elimination of P. vivax malaria. His research interest and expertise are in the field of population-based malaria research spanning from basic Plasmodium biology, host genetic adaptation to malaria and host immune responses, through to the clinical development of new interventions to control and eventually eliminate malaria. A particular focus lies in studying the biology, epidemiology, treatment and control of P. vivax through modern laboratory approaches (genetics, systems biology and high-throughput analyses in host immune responses) into well-designed field studies and mathematical modelling. Since 2020 Ivo has developed a program of research into the acquisition, maintenance and loss of immunity to SARS-CoV-2, developed sero-diagnostic tests for COVID-19 surveillance and conducted COVID-19 epidemic scenario modelling in support of policymakers in Australia and the Pacific.

Research interests: epidemiology; immunity; public health; modelling

Collaboration ideas:
- Role of Autoantibodies in the development of severe COVID-19 pathology and rare vaccine side effects
- COVID-19 serology and sero-surveillance. Development of serological tests and their application to detect recent and distant past infections and differentiate naturally and vaccine-induced immune responses
- Study the kinetic of naturally acquired and vaccine-induced immune responses to develop optimal vaccine booster strategies
- Mathematical modelling of COVID-19 transmission with a particular focus on the use of models to design optimal vaccine booster strategies.

Professor Sagadevan Mundree is currently the director of the Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. Prior to joining QUT, he was a Senior Executive in the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QPIF) where he led a team that was responsible for QPIF’s investments in research, development and extension in all the primary industries of Queensland.

Sagadevan is a former academic from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, and served as chief executive officer of South Africa’s National Innovation Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology. He holds a PhD in molecular and cell biology, which he completed at Auburn University, USA, on a Fulbright Scholarship, an MBA from UCT and is a Senior Executive Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School, US. He is a member of the South African Academy of Science and served on the National Biotechnology Advisory Council.

Research interests: Agriculture; Plant Proteins; Health benefits.

Collaboration ideas: Bridging the gap between agriculture and health.

Website: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/sagadevan.mundree
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4119-9250

Dr Fábio Muniz De Oliveira is a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil. Fábio has experience in microbiology and molecular biology, focusing on molecular microbiology, acting on the following subjects: recombinant proteins, tuberculosis, Mycobacterium abscessus iron homeostasis, Mycobacterium smegmatis recombinant, and development of vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4470-8444

Dr Carlos Oliveira is currently an associate professor at the Medical School at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná since 2016 in Brazil. Carlos was dean of the School of Pharmacy and professor of human pathology at the Assis Gurgacz Faculty from 2006 to 2011. He is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Hematology Research, Blood Research and Transfusion Journal, and Biochemistry and Biotechnology Reports. His main research activities focus on the immunopathology, molecular and immunological markers of chronic diseases, especially cancer. Carlos has expertise in immunological and molecular biology techniques.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0502-2255