Professor Eric Stone is internationally recognised for his research in mathematical biology, evolutionary inference, and systems genetics; having made theoretical and methodological contributions to understanding the genotype-phenotype map and how it evolves over time.

At the Australian National University, Professor Stone is Director of the Biological Data Science Institute, an interdisciplinary academic unit aiming to recruit, build and coordinate expertise in biological data science to accelerate the translation of biological data to biological knowledge. His broad focus is on using statistical methods and mathematical theory to illuminate how genetic variation has shaped biological diversity, with a specific interest in systems genetic approaches. Genetic variation – whether natural, experimental or engineered – can induce a cascade of molecular variation that perturbs the genotype-phenotype map; characterising these perturbations will be essential for the reverse engineering of multiscale models and the development of predictive modelling for biotechnological and synthetic biology applications in MACSYS.

Professor Eduardo Eyras is a world leader in the development of computational methods to advance RNA biology, with a track record of research excellence and multidisciplinary focus. 

Notable contributions include leading the gene discovery pipeline at the prestigious Sanger Institute for the international human and mouse genome projects. As an independent group leader, he received a Young Investigator Grant from the European Union to pioneer the application of machine learning to study RNA. His expertise in using machine learning to integrate multiple molecular experiments to study biological systems is directly relevant to MACSYS’ goals. Professor Eyras is currently director of the Centre for Computational Biomedical Sciences (CCBS) at the Australian National University (ANU). In 2021, he obtained $2.5M in philanthropic funding to launch the ANU Talo Computational Biology Talent Accelerator, an 8-year program supporting research and training for young scholars in computational biology. Additionally, Eyras has assembled multidisciplinary teams to secure two Australian Research Council grants (DP21, DP22) and one NHMRC Ideas grant (2022) for innovative RNA research.

Dr Robyn Araujo has a long-standing record of excellence in developing novel mathematical techniques and models to study cellular signalling networks. She is currently an Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Araujo has previously held appointments at the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health in Washington DC, and at the Centre for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University in the United States. She holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and is developing new mathematical methods for studying the systems biochemistry of cellular protein networks. Dr Araujo’s contributions to this field that have been recognised by many recent invitations to speak at local and national conferences, including a plenary lecture at the 2021 Australian Mathematical Society annual meeting.

Dr Araujo’s research is internationally recognised through widespread media coverage. Her 2018 Nature Communications publication on adaptation in complex cellular signalling networks attracted national and international media coverage, including Cosmos magazine and Networking Women. Her mathematical contributions to tuberculosis biomarker sequestration, published in Science Translational Medicine was featured in the New York Times and New Scientist.

Professor Richi Nayak is an internationally recognised data scientist with expertise in data and text mining (NLP), machine learning, and web intelligence. She is a Professor in the School of Computer Science and Leader of the Complex Data Analysis Program at the Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology.

Professor Nayak has successfully managed over 25 industry-related projects, attracting a total income exceeding $15M. Professor Nayak has a successful track-record of combining knowledge in her diverse areas of expertise to solve real-world problems encountered in the Social and Biological Sciences as well as Engineering. She has delivered innovative automated data-driven systems, built upon novel machine learning algorithms, which have been adopted by both industry and Government.

Professor Nayak was awarded the 2016 WiT (Women in Technology) Infotech Outstanding Achievement Award for exemplary service to the field of data analytics.

Professor Christopher Drovandi’s research focuses on computational and applied statistics where he develops new statistical theory and algorithms for calibrating complex mathematical and statistical models to data. He is a Program Director of the Queensland University of Technology Centre for Data Science.

Professor Drovandi’s research in statistics has been recognised nationally and internationally. In 2021 Drovandi was awarded a Moran medal by the National Academy of Sciences and has served as the Chair of the Bayesian Statistics Section of the Statistical Society of Australia (2016-19). His international reputation as a statistics researcher is supported by his strong publication track record. Completing his PhD around 10 years ago, Drovandi has published more than 100 journal articles, developing and applying fundamental and cutting-edge data science tools to deliver new insights in multidisciplinary collaborations across biology, ecology, physiology, finance, sport and exercise science. His track record has led to more than 50 invited talks at international conferences and research institutions.

Dr Lan Nguyen is an independent expert in the mechanistic modelling and integrative analysis of cellular signalling networks. His expertise and training span both mathematical modelling and systems and cell biology, enabling him to build a research lab comprising both dry- and wet-lab capabilities.

Dr Nguyen established and leads the Integrated Network Modelling Laboratory at Monash University where he holds a prestigious Victorian Cancer Agency Mid- Career Research Fellowship (2019-2023). He was previously a group leader at Systems Biology Ireland (SBI), a leading research-intensive institute dedicated to systems biology in Europe. Nguyen has an excellent track record in the field of modelling cellular signalling networks with his work appearing in high-impact journals such as eLife, Cell Systems, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Communications, and PLOS Computational Biology.

Professor Trevor Lithgow is one of Australia’s leading molecular cell biologists with a strong record of using yeast and bacteria as models to understand complex aspects of cell biology.

Professor Lithgow has driven a significant advance of knowledge in microbial cell biology, including technology development (in situ cross-linking technology, high-resolution imaging of yeast and bacteria, single-particle imaging of cellular machinery), to provide high-resolution maps of the architecture of sub-cellular structures. He is eager for modelling of experimental data to address the natural selection pressures driving evolution of antimicrobial resistance phenotypes in bacterial populations, a scenario that lends itself to using whole cell models that would predict evolution.

Professor Lithgow has previously held academic appointments at La Trobe University (1996-98) and the University of Melbourne (1999-2008) whereafter he moved to Monash University to take up an ARC Federation Fellowship in 2009, and then an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2014.