BSc (Psych) (Hons), PhD, Hon DSc (UNSW), FAHMS. Michelle has dedicated her entire professional life to improving clinical outcomes for children with cancer. She is one of Australia’s leading translational researchers and is world-renowned for her research into the childhood cancers neuroblastoma and leukaemia. She is Executive Director of Children’s Cancer Institute, an organisation she joined as a staff scientist in 1984, and is known for her world-class research into the treatment of neuroblastoma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children. Michelle also leads ZERO Childhood Cancer — the most comprehensive precision medicine program for children and young people with cancer in the world. She holds a conjoint appointment as Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of New South Wales for her eminent service to the cancer research community in 2008. She is passionate about translational medical research and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to science in the field of research into childhood cancer, to scientific education and to the community in 2007. In 2014, she was awarded the Cancer Institute NSW’s Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year, and in 2015 she was appointed an Inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.

Elaine Mardis, PhD is co-Executive Director of the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and holds the Rasmussen Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Genomic Medicine. She also is Professor of Paediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Mardis was previously on faculty at Washington University School of Medicine for 22 years, where she was named the Robert E. and Louise F. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Medicine. Dr. Mardis serves on the Supervisory Board of Qiagen N.V. and on the Board of Directors of Singular Genomics Systems, Inc. She is an internationally recognized expert in cancer genomics and immunogenomics, with over 430 published manuscripts. Her ongoing research interests lie in the integrated characterization of cancer genomes, defining DNA-based somatic and germline interactions and RNA-based pathways and immune microenvironments that lead to cancer onset and progression, with a focus on paediatric cancers and precision oncology. Dr. Mardis is the former President of the American Association for Cancer Research. In 2019 she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

BSc (Psych) (Hons), PhD, Hon DSc (UNSW), FAHMS. Michelle has dedicated her entire professional life to improving clinical outcomes for children with cancer. She is one of Australia’s leading translational researchers and is world-renowned for her research into the childhood cancers neuroblastoma and leukaemia. She is Executive Director of Children’s Cancer Institute, an organisation she joined as a staff scientist in 1984, and is known for her world-class research into the treatment of neuroblastoma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children. Michelle also leads ZERO Childhood Cancer — the most comprehensive precision medicine program for children and young people with cancer in the world. She holds a conjoint appointment as Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of New South Wales for her eminent service to the cancer research community in 2008. She is passionate about translational medical research and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to science in the field of research into childhood cancer, to scientific education and to the community in 2007. In 2014, she was awarded the Cancer Institute NSW’s Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year, and in 2015 she was appointed an Inaugural Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.

Associate Professor Paul Ekert is Group Leader of Translational Tumour Biology at the Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI) and Head of Translational Genomics in the ZERO Childhood Cancer Program. His research interests include the molecular biology and therapeutic targeting of genomic drivers in paediatric cancer. Professor Ekert is the current Deputy Director, Research Themes at CCI, heads the Translational Tumour Biology laboratory. He heads the Functional Genomics program funded by Luminesce Alliance, with a particular focus on Cas13-based technologies. He also heads ACRF Spatial Immune-oncology Research (ASpIRe) Program for Childhood Cancer.

Associate Professor Antoine de Weck joined Children's Cancer Institute in January 2022 to establish and lead the Computationally Enabled Drug Discovery (CEDD) Group. CEDD is a hybrid (dry and wet) lab focusing on identifying new therapeutic vulnerabilities in childhood cancers, on identifying new or existing compounds capable of targeting those vulnerabilities, and on establishing an early drug discovery pipeline for small molecules targeting RNA. Antoine’s group is a key capability of THINK (THerapeutic INnovations for Kids), an initiative dedicated to generating new therapies specifically for children with cancer and moving these from the lab to the clinic as quickly as possible. Before joining Children’s Cancer Institute, Antoine worked at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research in Switzerland as a computational biologist in oncology.

Gabor Tax is a postdoctoral research scientist with more than 17 years of experience in molecular, cell and cancer biology. He did his PhD in Clinical Medicine in the School of Medicine at University of Szeged, Hungary, focusing on the role of genetic variations and skin microbiome in inflammatory diseases. After his PhD, Gabor transitioned to industry where he designed and supervised the optimisation of preclinical drug discovery research which was awarded with an innovation award in 2018. In 2019, Gabor started a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom where he was investigating effect of ERQC/ERAD modulations for broad-spectrum glycoprotein secretion-rescue in rare diseases. In 2021, he joined the ZERO precision medicine program at the Children's Cancer Institute Australia. Currently, Gabor is a Research Officer in the Translational Drug Testing and Pharmacogenomics group and holding a Conjoint Lecturer appointment at UNSW.

Elaine Mardis, PhD is co-Executive Director of the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and holds the Rasmussen Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Genomic Medicine. She also is Professor of Paediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Mardis was previously on faculty at Washington University School of Medicine for 22 years, where she was named the Robert E. and Louise F. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Medicine. Dr. Mardis serves on the Supervisory Board of Qiagen N.V. and on the Board of Directors of Singular Genomics Systems, Inc. She is an internationally recognized expert in cancer genomics and immunogenomics, with over 430 published manuscripts. Her ongoing research interests lie in the integrated characterization of cancer genomes, defining DNA-based somatic and germline interactions and RNA-based pathways and immune microenvironments that lead to cancer onset and progression, with a focus on paediatric cancers and precision oncology. Dr. Mardis is the former President of the American Association for Cancer Research. In 2019 she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

Associate Professor Paul Ekert is Group Leader of Translational Tumour Biology at the Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI) and Head of Translational Genomics in the ZERO Childhood Cancer Program. His research interests include the molecular biology and therapeutic targeting of genomic drivers in paediatric cancer. Professor Ekert is the current Deputy Director, Research Themes at CCI, heads the Translational Tumour Biology laboratory. He heads the Functional Genomics program funded by Luminesce Alliance, with a particular focus on Cas13-based technologies. He also heads ACRF Spatial Immune-oncology Research (ASpIRe) Program for Childhood Cancer.

Professor David Ziegler is an NHMRC Investigator and paediatric oncologist at the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick. He trained as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Medical School. He is Head of the Neuro-Oncology program and the Cancer Clinical Trials program at SCH. He is the Group Leader of the Brain Tumour Group at the Children’s Cancer Institute, Australia, and Conjoint Professor at the University of New South Wales. He leads Australia’s national childhood cancer personalised medicine trials through the ZERO program. He has won multiple awards including the 2023 Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Jian Zhou Medal, awarded to a rising star of Australian health and medical science.

Professor Ian Street is an internationally regarded leader in translational research, small molecule drug discovery and commercialization. Currently, he is Director of Therapeutic Innovation at the Children’s Cancer Institute, and an active consultant to the Australian Biotech Industry. Over his 36-year postdoctoral career, he has worked in industry and academia in the USA, Canada, and Australia, dedicating his time, energy, and innovation to bridging the gap between a “great idea” and the technical and commercial realities of translating that idea into a new medicine. To date, Ian’s career-spanning body of work has contributed to filing of 35 patent applications, publications in high impact journals, 7 investigational new drugs entering clinical trials, 2 FDA-approved drugs, over $151 million in research funding, over $426 million in milestones and royalty payments returned to Australian organizations, with the potential for an added $645 million in the future. Areas of Research: Drug Discovery and Commercialization, Biological Chemistry, Enzymology, Translational Cancer Biology

Associate Professor Ness Tyrrell BAppSc MBA FHGSA ARCPA GAICD is Head of the Clinical Translation Research Division, and Program Director of the ZERO Childhood Cancer National Precision Medicine Program at Children’s Cancer Institute, with accountability for directing and sustaining the Program, ensuring efficient, effective, and medically responsible delivery of all aspects of the program, and building it into a sustainable permanent national precision medicine platform supporting research driven clinical care in the long term. With over 30 years of experience in all disciplines of genetic testing in both public and private pathology and research sectors, global biotech commercial industry experience, and over 20 years of continuous active voluntary service to peak professional bodies, Ness is a recognised leader in her field. She has actively contributed to state and federal governments’ and professional bodies’ advisory committees, review, consultation, and development of policy, and the implementation of genomics and precision medicine in Australia. She is a Past President of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA), and has previously been appointed by the Federal Health Minister to the NHMRC’s Human Genetics Advisory Committee, during which time she advised on and contributed to high level policy and position papers. Most recently she has been appointed to the MSAC Evaluation Sub-committee, and Australian Genomics National Steering Committee.