Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute
Infectious IDeas
Q4 2024
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As the year draws to a close, we'd like to thank you for your support, dedication, and collaboration throughout 2024. Together, we’ve achieved incredible milestones, faced challenges with resilience, and paved the way for even greater success in the year ahead.
We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our members who have achieved success in the latest round of academic promotions! While the announcements remain under embargo, we’re excited to celebrate these accomplishments in the new year. Stay tuned!
The holiday season is a time for reflection, gratitude, and celebration. Whether you’re spending it with loved ones, exploring new adventures, or simply enjoying some well-deserved rest, we wish you a festive season filled with joy, peace, and good health.
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Farewell to our Associate DirectorAs Dr Jocelyne Basseal (Joss) prepares to embark on an exciting new chapter as Director of Global Research and Engagement, we want to take a moment to celebrate her incredible contributions to Sydney ID. Over the past three years, her leadership, vision, and unwavering dedication have left an indelible mark on us all.
From her advocacy work with the CDC, to the Sydney ID EMCR program, to establishing our strategic vision, Joss has been instrumental in shaping the success and culture of Sydney ID. Joss, we will miss you terribly, but we are so excited for the new opportunities and adventures that await you. Thank you for your hard work, your guidance, and the positive impact you’ve had on all of us. You will always be a valued part of our community, and we look forward to hearing about your continued successes.
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Sydney ID and SSEAC in CanberraOur Director and Associate Director continued their advocacy efforts this month in collaboration with the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) team, including Greg Fox, Natali Pearson, and Tiho Ancev. They visited Canberra to engage with key organisations such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Info-Pacific Centre for Health Security, the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The meetings facilitated productive discussions on research partnerships and strategic initiatives focusing on One Health, climate change, and regional and global health challenges. Read more about the Australian CDC here.
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Uncovering the Viral 'Dark Matter'
In recent Nature and Cell papers , Prof Edward Holmes and his team used novel AI protein structure prediction tools to probe the viral ‘dark matter’ that surrounds us everywhere.
"The secrets of the virosphere has remained hidden until now. It is estimated that there are more than 100 million viruses on Earth, of which only a small fraction has been described, but this new technology is shifting the frontier, as acknowledged by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to the scientists who pioneered this technology". Professor Eddie Holmes, Sydney ID.
Sydney ID, together with SoMS, congratulate Edward Holmes, John-Sebastian Eden, Jonathon Mifsud, Vincenzo Costa, and the whole team on these papers.
Sydney ID researchers are leading the way in discovering novel viruses, understanding their evolutionary trajectories, and exploring potential risks that they may pose for human health, as well as potential societal benefits locked up in their genes.
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The Australian recognises research excellence of University
The University of Sydney was recently named by The Australian as the leading research institution nationally in 21 fields of research - with mycology being one!
Here at Sydney ID our Fungisphere Special Interest Group (SIG) promotes collaborative and innovative research on all things fungi, including fungal biology, ecology and epidemiology, food security, pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance.
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Dr Mary Wyer, Associate Professor of Practice (Biocontainment)
Dr Mary Wyer is the newly appointed Associate Professor of Practice (Biocontainment) at the Sydney Nursing School. The School has partnered with the Western Sydney Local Health District to jointly support this clinical academic position created to develop models of biocontainment through education, research capacity building and collaborative clinical research.
Dr Wyer completed her PhD in 2017 where she explored patient involvement in infection prevention and control and has been researching in infection prevention and control and biocontainment practices since. Through Sydney ID she is affiliated with the Infection Prevention and Disease Control cross-cutting theme and was previously a research fellow on the NHMRC Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies Centre of Research Excellence (APPRISE-CRE) from 2017 to 2022.
Dr Wyer is based predominately at the NSW Biocontainment Centre at Westmead Hospital, the state-wide facility for the care of patients with high consequence infectious diseases (HCID), where she has been working as a Nurse Educator for the past 4 years. Her research brings together healthcare workers, patients and families using video-reflexive ethnography and simulation to understand and improve infection prevention and control and biocontainment practice. Her video-reflexive research informs biocontainment policy and procedure development. Congratulations Mary!
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Alumni Award for Service to Humanity
Dr Rick Brennan AO has accepted an honorary title from the University of Sydney, and will work as an affiliate within Sydney ID. Last month he received the Alumni Award for Service to Humanity - which recognises his personal contributions to improve the lives of those in need. Dr Richard Brennan AO is the Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, World Health Organization (WHO). He has three decades of dedicated humanitarian service, including seven years at WHO headquarters as Director of Emergency Operations, Director of Ebola Coordination and Response and Director of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response.
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Image supplied by Whiteley
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Congratulations Whiteley
Hunter-based medical manufacturing company, Whiteley has had a successful year taking out 5 prestigious awards including:
- NSW Business of the Year [NSW Business Chamber]
- Excellence in International Business [NSW Business Chamber]
- Excellence in Export and Global Supply Chain [Hunter Manufacturing Awards]
- Excellence in International Business [Hunter Business Chamber]
- Hunter Business of the Year [Hunter Business Chamber]
Sydney ID have supported Dr Arthika Manoharon's ground-breaking research which is pioneering a whole new approach into biofilms and urinary tract infections (UTI). through a partnership with Whiteley.
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- Our Sydney ID annual colloquium "New Horizons in Infectious Disease: Vaccines, Advanced Therapeutics and Innovative Research IDeas" was held on Thursday, 31 October 2024.The meeting focussed on fostering research partnerships in NSW, with an emphasis on vaccine development and immunisation. The keynote presentation was given by Dr Andrea McCracken from Moderna which explored the collaborative efforts of Moderna Australia to advance mRNA-based solutions for infectious diseases. A presentation by Dr Laura Collie, the Senior Medical Advisor and Manager of Advanced Therapeutics within the Office of Health and Medical Research, detailed OHMRs portfolio of work supporting the development and delivery of next generation therapies into the NSW health system. We were also introduced to the innovative research by our Horizon Fellows - Dr Kerrie Wiley, Dr Nick Fancourt and Dr Archita Mishra - working in infectious diseases.
- Sydney ID together with CIDM-PH was proud to support The Sydney Fungal Genomics Summer School Workshop last month. We were grateful to have Dr Johanna Rhodes, a One Health Mycology expert from Radboud University Medical Centre, The Netherlands and Imperial College, London lead the Summer School. Using her valuable expertise, participants learnt how to harness genomics to answer biologically and epidemiologically relevant questions in mycology, using examples from real-world studies.
Well done to A/Prof Justin Beardsley for leading this initiative through the Fungisphere SIG of Sydney ID.
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Our members publicationsHave you had a publication recently? Send it to us so we can share the great work being done by our members.
Justin Beardsley
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
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Fabienne Brilot, Mark Douglas, Rebecca Rockett, Jamie Triccas, Kerrie Sandgren, Tony Cunningham
EBio Medicine
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Caroline Ashley, Malik Bloul, Sibel Alca, Lachlan Smith, Claudio Counoupas, Jamie Triccas, Megan Steain
J Virol Methods
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Tanya Golubchik
Nature Communications
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Carl Suster, Anne Watt, Sharon Chen, Jen Kok, Vitali Sintchenko
Epidemio Infect
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Jon Iredell, Ameneh Khatami
Nature Microbiol
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Ricky Chen, Thi Anh Nguyen, Hannah Kim, Sophie Stocker, Jan-Willem Alffenaar
J Antimicrob Chemother
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Tim Newsome
PLOS Pathogens
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