In the Media: highlights from Microbiology and Immunology Feb-April 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.

    • Damian Purcell co-wrote a Conversation article with Archa Fox from UWA about mRNA vaccines that researchers are working on (that aren’t for COVID-19).
    • Ian Barr spoke to Radio National Breakfast about getting the influenza shot.
    • Amy Chung spoke to the Herald SunABCThe Medical Republic and IFL Science about her research into why the elderly may be impacted more by COVID-19 (published in Nature Communications).
    • Ian Barr was featured in a story that appeared in The New Daily regarding concerns the influenza season will start late in 2021 and come back strongly.
    • Jennifer Juno was interviewed by ABC News Radio about side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine.
    • A new series called Invisible Wars premiered on ABC exploring infectious diseases with the first episode featuring Kanta Subbarao.
    • The New York Times wrote a story about Buruli ulcer featuring Tim Stinear.
    • Dale Godfrey spoke to NewsGP about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.
    • ABC News 24 interviewed Kanta Subbarao for the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Australia.
    • ABC Science interviewed Sebastian Duchene for a story about virus reservoirs in animals. Sebastian also spoke to News Corp for an explainer about the strain that originated in the UK.
    • Katherine Kedzierska and her team published research in Cell Reports Medicine that maps an effective immune response to COVID-19. Stories appeared in the Herald SunTicker NewsSBS World NewsABC NewsMedical Xpress and 6PR News Perth. Read our news article here.
    • Deborah Williamson was listed as one of eight women who are leaders in their field in the Marie Claire 2020 Women of the Year.
    • Jennifer Juno spoke to ABC News Radio about the imminent COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Jennifer was also featured in Financial ReviewHerald Sun articles discussing research from the Kent Lab that she was involved with looking at immunity four months following COVID-19 infection.
    • Dale Godfrey was interviewed by NewsGP for a story on herd immunity in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines.
    • Damian Purcell spoke to ABC Online about the origins of the COVID-19 UK variant.
    • Tim Stinear featured in a feature story on the progress of the Beating Buruli project in Fairfax.
    • Deborah Williamson and her team published results of a pilot to study the performance and feasibility of COVID-19 antigen tests in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific. Stories appeared in Fairfax and the Australian Financial Review.
    • Kanta Subbarao co-wrote a piece for The Conversation on what can be learned from the flu vaccine process for COVID-19 variants.
    • Dick Strugnell and Nancy Wang were authors of a commentary published in The Lancet referring to a serosurveillance study in Wuhan. Stories appeared in the South China Morning PostCCTVThe Medical News and Medical Express.
    • Kanta Subbarao was featured in an article in Nature online about how to redesign vaccines to be effective against the COVID-19 variants.
    • Sebastian Duchene contributed to Fairfax’s explainer on variants of concern.

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

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