Jennie is a molecular geneticist whose primary training was in the field of Immunogenetics. She is the Director for the Busselton Population and Medical Research Institute (BPMRI) Laboratory and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. She also holds a Senior Medical Scientist position at the PathWest Laboratory Medicine of Western Australia. 

Jennie’s main research focus involved the study of genetics and epidemiology of common human diseases. She has published over 130 scientific articles, reviews and book chapters covering subjects including genetics of obesity, respiratory diseases, skin diseases, cardiovascular diseases as well as genetic epidemiology.  

Over the last two decades, she has initiated and managed a number of internationally recognised research projects as well as successfully managed and maintained the Busselton Health Study biobank. The Busselton Health Study (BHS) Biobank stored extensive cross-sectional and longitudinal health data and biospecimen on over 30,000 children and adults since 1966 and is one of the longest running epidemiological research programs in the world. It is a collaborative resource which has the capability to accelerate important and topical population health studies and provide translational outcomes in genetic and environmental risk prediction, diagnosis, treatment and health and age care. The BHS biobank has been described by public health experts as a “national treasure”.

Bradley Desmond is the Acting National Coordinator of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership - Australia’s only national alliance of conservation seed banks. Hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens on Ngunnawal country, Bradley facilitates collaborative seed banking, research and knowledge sharing initiatives on behalf of the Partnership. An environmental scientist with 10 years’ experience in NGO, industry and public service sectors, Bradley provides support to the Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens (CHABG) to deliver better outcomes for native plant conservation.

The Australian Seed Bank Partnership brings together more than 14 Partner and Associate seed banks, gene banks and flora focused organisations that work collaboratively to conserve, understand and utilise native plant germplasm. Our efforts are delivered locally by experts across each Australian state and territory. These contributions enable communities, business and governments to meet their obligations under state, territory and federal legislation, as well as Australia's international commitments at the United Nations, including the forthcoming Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The Partnership is committed to supporting flora conservation efforts through sustainable collection and biobanking of native plant material, and through contributing research, data and expertise to national guidelines and standards for ex situ conservation, translocation and restoration. This presentation will explore the work of the Partnership, including our recent push to support plant conservation and recovery after the catastrophic impacts of the 2019–20 bushfires.

Julie has spent her entire career in support of scientific research. As Associate Director of AMRI, leading the Life and Geosciences Branch, Julie is dedicated to facilitating the pursuit of high-quality research and conservation efforts, utilising the Australian Museum’s incredible natural and cultural collections.

Most recently she was Chief Operating Officer for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), a seven-year, 34-million-dollar program of research, headquartered at the University of Wollongong. A committed advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace, here Julie was joint-Chair of CABAH’s Equity, Diversity and Mentoring committee.

During her 18 years at the University of Wollongong, Julie was also Hub Manager for the ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Manufacturing, and spent 10 years developing extensive expertise in nationally competitive grants within the Research and Innovation Division.

Julie gained experience in research collections immediately following her undergraduate degree, working at the Australian National Herbarium, in Canberra. First as a Technical Officer and later leading a team of data-entry technicians on the Australasian Virtual Herbarium project – a nation-wide digitization effort.

Julie’s academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science (University of Melbourne), Major in Botany, BSc (Hons) (The Australian National University), for a project examining the impacts of coastal invasive weeds on Pimelea spicata, commonly known as spiked rice flower, and Masters of Arts, Public Sector Leadership, through Griffith University.

Chris biobanks clinical samples from observational and interventional clinical trials in paediatric, adolescent and adult populations. And even the occasional non-human sample too.

Chris coordinates the Biospecimen Service (BioSpecs) at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children’s Hospital. He is mainly involved with single-site and multi-site clinical trials (observational and interventional). In 2003, Chris completed a Bachelor of Science (Molecular Genetics) at Curtin University, then an Honours degree (Anatomy and Human Biology) at the University of Western Australia.  In 2005, Chris was employed as a Research Assistant at the University of Melbourne, where he transitioned into a PhD studying the genetic pathways of skeletal muscle development and regeneration, as it relates to muscular dystrophy.  After graduating in 2012, Chris was appointed Regional Laboratory Coordinator for the Southeast Asia Encephalitis Project (SEAe Project) at Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (Cambodia).  It was during this time that Chris got involved in international paediatric multi-site clinical studies by designing, implementing and managing the laboratory activities of the SEAe Project, that comprised 7 laboratories, 4 paediatric hospitals and various government departments across 4 SE Asian countries. After 6 years, Chris and his family moved back to Perth, where he took a position with Telethon Kids Institute to develop a laboratory-orientated platform to provide high-quality pre-analytical services to internal and external research groups. Today, BioSpecs services numerous clinical studies in the fields of  infectious disease, paediatrics, cancer, vaccine trials and youth mental health. Chris provides tailored consultancy, laboratory and biobank expertise to research groups. Recently, BioSpecs was awarded funding to be the central biobank for a large infectious disease study. Chris is an active member on numerous committees, including biobank governance, steering committees, emergency response, cold storage and now, proudly, ABNA.

Anusha is the manager at UNSW Biospecimen Services, she has been in this role since first hired to establish the Biorepository in 2010. She has 15 years’ experience as a bench scientist and it was during her PhD that she realised the utility and importance of biobanks, this was a major driver in her taking on her current role instead of pursuing a traditional post-doctoral career.

As part of her role Anusha and the Biospecimen Services team help UNSW researchers set up biospecimen collection protocols including help with grant and ethics applications, manage and run a processing lab including the biobanking database. She works with project managers, hospital staff and hospital management to establish and maintain on-going collections and manages the distribution of biospecimens to ethically approved research.  Biospecimen Services is centrally funded and is part of the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre as UNSW. Currently Biospecimen Services are working towards expanding as a university-wide service incorporating Cold Storage Services. 

Anusha is a member of ISBER and has served as a member of the 2020 Scientific Program Committee and is a co-chair for the 2023 Annual Meeting. Anusha has been a member of the Australasian Biospecimen Network Association (ABNA) since 2010. She joined the ABNA Management Committee in 2017 and has been a member of Conference Organising Committees since 2018, served as Vice President 2018-2019 and President 2020 – 2021. As ABNA President she was the recipient of an ISBER Special Services Award in 2021.

Izabela is running Global Biobanking at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma- one of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies. Part of her role is developing biobanking sampling strategy to meet business needs, managing partnerships and collaborations. Moreover, she is overseeing regulatory and ethical compliance of biobanking sample collection across the globe. She is also managing use of banked samples at Boehringer Ingelheim as well as by collaborators or service providers.

Izabela is a member of ISBER and has served as a member of the ISBER Program Committee. She is also chairing Pharmaceutical Industry Session at ISBER annual meeting. Additionally, she is involved in a German Biobanking Pharma Exchange network.

Before joining BI she held a role at Our Future Health in London, UK and at the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial Collage London where she supported the establishment and development of various research biobanks and large epidemiological studies. Earlier she spent several years working as a Research Fellow at the Medical Research Council and University College London.

Izabela holds PhD in Human Biology from University of Giessen, Germany and MSc degree from Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland.

Dr. Sheldon founded the SAMPLED Scientific Affairs department with the mission to provide expert technical resources to clients, discovery and adoption of new technologies and the coordination of outreach initiatives designed to enhance the profile of the company. Previously, he served as Senior Director of Sample Processing Services at RUCDR Infinite Biologics (now SAMPLED), with oversight of all sample processing services relating to blood fractionation, cell and stem cell culture and nucleic acid extraction. He was a member of the team that established the SAMPLED SARS-CoV2 testing lab, serving the states of New Jersey and Minnesota as well as many sites across the United States. To date, SAMPLED has tested over 15 million samples and is now the third largest testing lab in the country.

He is also Director of the SAMPLED College of American Pathologists (CAP) Biorepository.

Dr. Sheldon received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1983 and a Ph.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1993. He has appointments to the faculties of Rutgers University and the Baylor College of Medicine with a background as a bench scientist in Genetics and Neurodevelopment.

Greg Hurnall is a Technology and Digital Enablement Specialist at The University of Adelaide. He has both a Masters of Teaching and an MBA.

He developed, lead, and facilitated a range of training programs around IT Systems, Cyber Security, and Collaboration Tools to uplift the digital capabilities of Academics, Researchers, and Professional Staff across the University.

Recently, Greg developed a more robust Cyber Security Mandatory Training course for the University, that was endorsed by the Vice Chancellor, and pushed out across the University.

A/Professor Bev Muhlhausler is Acting Deputy/Science Director of the Health & Biosecurity Business Unit, and Deputy Research Director of the Human Health Program in the Health and Biosecurity Unit at CSIRO. A/Prof Muhlhausler joined CSIRO after 14 years as an NHMRC Early Career and then Career Development Award Fellow at the University of South Australia and University of Adelaide. Her work has made a significant contribution to current understanding of how exposure to maternal obesity and/or an excess nutrient supply before birth alters the development of key systems involved in the regulation of energy balance. Over her career, A/Prof Muhlhausler has published 180 peer-reviewed papers which have been cited over 4,400 times, 19 invited book chapters, editorials and commentaries, and presented >40 invited talks at national/international scientific conferences. She also co-authored the ‘CSIRO Women’s Health & Nutrition Guide’ in 2021 and is passionate about communicating the importance of health and medical research to the broader Australian community. A/Prof Muhlhausler is currently Principal Investigator of the Australian Health Biobank, the first Biobank to be established in alignment with the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Survey being conducted by the ABS.