Bioinformatics Network

Dr Jennifer Boer is the Theme Leader for Immunity and Metabolism within the Accelerator for Translational Research and Clinical Trials (ATRACT) centre and a research fellow in the Cancer Aging and Vaccines Laboratory (CAVA). Jennifer’s translational research centres on leveraging high-dimensional transcriptomics and big data methodologies to elucidate the complex immunomodulatory effects of both conventional and nanoparticle-based vaccines across the critical domains of infectious diseases and oncology, with particular focus on age and sex differences. Her profound cross-disciplinary expertise spans biotechnology, immunology/vaccinology and advanced bioinformatics. She has been recognised with competitive research accolades, including a 10X Genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) fellowship and several major supercomputer merit allocations, such as 2 consecutive awards of the RACE Merit Allocation Scheme and the NCI Adaptor Grant (with over ~250kSUs). Jennifer is the co-founder and co-leader of the RMIT Bioinformatics Platform and the founder and leader of the graduate course, Bioinformatics and Multi-omics Analysis. She serves as a Board Member on the RMIT Research Compute Governance (RCG) Committee, the Australian Society of Immunology (ASI) Systems Immunology Victorian/Tasmanian State Representative, and provides expert bioinformatics/biostatistics input to clinical, biotechnology, and platform infrastructure organizations

I am a developmental neuroscientist specialising in the molecular and cellular basis of early brain development. I combine gyrencephalic animal models, patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells, cerebral organoids, and bioinformatics to investigate how the cerebral cortex develops and how disruptions to that process shape long-term brain health.  As an award-winning science communicator and researcher, my work has been highlighted at numerous conferences, and I´ve contributed to key publications in the field. My technical expertise spans RNA sequencing, cell culture, and gene transfection, with a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and high-impact research. I’m committed to producing high-impact research that not only answers current questions but also paves the way for future discoveries.    

Dr Christian Krohn a molecular ecologist and environmental biotechnologist working on anaerobic digestion, the biology that turns organic waste into renewable biogas. These living systems routinely run below potential, yet operators steer them by chemical proxies rather than the biology itself. Using long-read sequencing, meta-omics and machine learning, Christian extracts biological signals from the biomass to show how its ecology varies with season and loading rates. Capturing this variation can sharpen existing industry models and help recover more renewable biogas from waste. The aim is a ‘biomass-to-screen’ diagnostic capability that shifts the biogas sector from indirect chemical proxies toward biologically informed control.   Christian completed his PhD in Soil Science and Microbial Ecology at La Trobe University, where he investigated how soil microbial diversity mediates the breakdown of persistent organic pollutants. His work has produced 25 peer-reviewed publications (Google h-index 12) and attracted multiple institutional and national awards, including the Nancy Millis Medal and the C.G. Stephens Medal. He is an active science communicator, industry collaborator, and mentor, contributing to public engagement on the microbial foundations of a circular, low-emission bioeconomy.

Ankita brings over 10 years of industry experience in bioinformatics, with a focus on analyzing large-scale multi-omics NGS datasets.