In the Media: highlights from Microbiology and Immunology October-November 2021

Our experts from the Dept of Microbiology & Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute have been at the forefront of COVID-19 breakthrough research and media commentary. Catch up on the latest highlights here.

  • Axel Kallies was quoted in an SBS story about how females are often excluded from scientific research.
  • Dale Godfrey
    • Dale was interviewed by ABC Sydney radio, The Australian and the ABC on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
    • He was quoted in a story for NewsGP about the latest evidence on vaccine boosters and another NewsGP story about what living with the virus may look like.
    • Dale was also quoted in a Sky News story and ExBulletin about increasing coronavirus infections in parts of Europe as the continent enters winter and what it means for Australia.
  • Damian Purcell was quoted in news publications nationally, including the National Esperance, the NT News and the Beaudesert Times, about the need for booster shots and how they increase immunity to higher levels than second doses. He was also quoted on the same topic in an explainer for Cosmos magazine.
  • Danielle Anderson was mentioned in an ABC story about a survey on the widespread abuse scientists are copping over COVID-19.
  • Deborah Williamson featured in the ABC’s podcast The Signal talking about rapid antigen testing. She also featured on ABC radio and was quoted in The Saturday Paper about rapid antigen tests.
  • Good Weekend this weekend featured Kanta Subbarao, Stephen Kent and Jennifer Juno as 2021 Australians Who Mattered.
  • Jennifer Juno was interviewed by SBS News for an explainer on ‘what’s happening with Europe’s fourth wave, and how can Australia avoid it?’
  • Jenifer Juno and Adam Wheatley co-wrote an explainer for The Conversation discussing whether new variants such as Omicron are linked to low vaccination rates.
  • Kanta Subbarao was on an international Science News Now panel providing an overview of the pandemic with Akiko Iwasaki, David Martinez, and Mark Denison.
  • Katherine Kedzierska’s research, published in PNAS, has found the influenza vaccine to be just as effective in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as non-Indigenous people. Katherine’s research featured in Science Media Exchange and Medical Xpress and has appeared internationally in Florida News Today.
  • Marios Koutsakos was quoted in COSMOS Magazine on the extinction of a flu lineage.
  • Norelle Sherry was quoted in theSydney Morning Herald and across the national News Limited network talking about the Delta variant AY.4.2 and said the variant was “not hugely worrying at this stage”.
  • Peter Doherty
    • Peter was interviewed on The Briefing podcast to discuss Australia’s path out of the pandemic. The episode is titled ‘The David Attenborough of the Covid-19 pandemic’.
    • He was also interviewed on the ABC’s PM with David Lipson speaking about COVID-19 infection, Australia’s vaccine rollout and immunity.
    • Peter was interviewed on the 7am podcast talking about what surprised him most about the pandemic and what we should expect in the months to come. He also wrote a piece for The Saturday Paper titled ‘What we’ve learnt about COVID-19 and booster vaccines’.
    • He was referenced in a story on antivirals in NewsGP and also in OpenForum and First 5000 where he spoke about what he was looking forward to in the new COVID normal.
    • Peter was mentioned in Oncology News talking about how he will be reflecting upon the significant progress made in the field of immunology at the upcoming Clinical Oncology Society of Australia’s 48th Annual Scientific Meeting.
    • He was also the guest on the ABC’s Nightlife with Philip Clark talking about the pandemic we had to have.
  • Scott Mueller was quoted in the Science and Technology section of the publication Jiforme about his research demonstrating that stress can block the migration of immune cells and physically block infections.
  • Simone Park was referenced in a story in the National Tribune as a previous recipient of the Premier’s Excellence Award and Basic Science Researcher Award.
  • Stephen Kent and Jennifer Juno co-wrote an explainer for The Conversation on the need for COVID-19 booster vaccines and how effective they are. Their explainer also appeared in Men’s Health and the Daily Bulletin. Read our article here.

You can find out more about our research projects and groups in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology here.

Read more