In the Media: highlights from Microbiology and Immunology May-July 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.

  • Cracking COVID - a documentary exploring the science behind the COVID-19 response featuring Peter Doherty aired on ABC last week. Media stories promoting the film appeared in ABC ScienceABC Radio MelbourneCrikeyMJA, The Age
  • Damien Purcell spoke with ABC News about what mutations will mean for future vaccines and booster shots.
  • Damian Purcell spoke to Norman Swan for 730 about the Delta variant.
  • Danielle Anderson was featured in The Age about her work in Wuhan and finding herself in the spotlight while not working on coronavirus.
  • Ben Howden was on Radio National Sunday Extra talking about the role of AusTrakka and the global picture of genomics.
  • Jason Mackenzie and his daughter Oceania (an Olympic rock climber) featured in the Herald Sun and Channel 7 Melbourne about his liquid chalk study, published in mSphere - he found that it acts as an antiseptic against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. He also spoke to 6PR in Perth.
  • Kanta Subbarao was a contributing author to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine about SARS-CoV-2 variants and vaccines.
  • Danielle Anderson was interviewed by Bloomberg about her experience working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
  • Deborah Williamson’s previously published research on the effectiveness of rapid antigen tests was mentioned in a Fairfax story in the context of the current Sydney outbreak.
  • Hyon-Xhi Tan and Wen Shi Lee wrote an article for The Conversation: Which COVID vaccine is best? Here's why that's really hard to answer.
  • A collaboration involving Jason Mackenzie's laboratory looking at identifying virus variants was published in Nature Communications. Media stories appeared in The Medical News and Mirage News.
  • Kanta Subbarao was a guest on ABC’s The Health Report discussing a recent paper she was a co-author on: Investigating neutralising antibody levels providing immune protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 published in Nature Medicine. Kanta was also interviewed by 7.30 about circulating variants.
  • Dale Godfrey spoke to RACGP about a new saliva test that can detect COVID-19 in five minutes.
  • Jennifer Juno co-wrote a Conversation article with Kylie Quinn from RMIT University on how long COVID-19 vaccines take to work. Jennifer also assisted in an AAP Factcheck about vaccine effectiveness.
  • Ben Howden provided comments to The Age about the Delta variant and the genomics work his team is doing for the Melbourne outbreak.
  • Norelle Sherry spoke to Fairfax and the Financial Review for an explainer on the COVID-19 variant circulating in Melbourne.
  • Stephen Kent and his team were collaborators on a study with the Kirby Institute that found a new way of predicting COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. Story appeared in The New Indian Express and The Medical News.
  • Deborah Williamson was interviewed by ABC Online about the increase of syphilis cases around Victoria.
  • Damian Purcell participated in a Scimex briefing for journalists about mRNA vaccines.
  • Katherine Kedzierska and Luca Hensen were interviewed by the ABC and SBS for their research looking at the impact of influenza on the immune systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Stories also appeared in Medical Xpress, The Medical News and Nature.
  • Research by Katherine Kedzierska and team published in Nature Communications received coverage in Xinhua, Science Daily and Medical Xpress.
  • Scott Mueller did a number of interviews about his team's research looking at how stress impacts immune cells. He spoke to ABC Radio SydneyABC News Radio, The Australian ABC News 24ABC Radio MelbourneMedical Xpress2GB and the Academic Times.

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

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