Head of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Monash University

Professor Magdalena Plebanski

Professor Magdalena Plebanski (BScHon, MA, MBA, PhD) is an internationally recognized leader in Immunology, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, and directs the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Unit at the Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University, Australia. She is also the inaugural co-head of the Therapeutics Division at the recently established Monash Institute of Medical Engineering (MIME), leveraging exciting interdisciplinary collaborations with Monash engineers  and clinicians to develop new approaches to promote human health.

Prof. Plebanski’s primary interest is to develop practical and affordable vaccines against complex diseases, specifically malaria and cancer, and to this end she pioneered the use of synthetic size-defined non-inflammatory nanoparticles. Her nanoparticle studies also opened to door to new nanotechnology applications to prevent allergic airways disease. She has 130 peer-reviewed publications (plus books and abstracts), including field changing findings on vaccines, and on mechanisms used by parasites and cancer cells that can interfere with vaccine efficacy, including papers in the top world-class journals, Nature Biotechnology, Lancet, Science, Nature, Immunity, Nature Medicine, Plos Pathogens, Nature Communications to name a few.

She has 100 patents in 14 patent families and has successfully progressed findings into human trials and commercialization in diverse roles as CSO, CEO and Director in successful biotechnology companies nationally and internationally. Her current interests further involve the optimised application of vaccines and chemotherapy to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, as well as to patients with cancer.

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