Associate Professor Jean (Jiayu) Wen is a computational biologist with expertise in computational and statistical method development, machine learning, high-throughput genomic data analysis, and molecular biology experiments to model gene regulatory interaction.

Wen is an Associate Professor at The John Curtin School of Medical Research at Australian National University (ANU) where she holds an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (2017-22), an ARC Discovery Project (2022-25), and an ANU Future Scheme Fellowship (2019-23). She has extensive experience developing computational methods and machine learning models of diverse modes of gene regulatory networks. Her work has made original contributions to both computational methodological advances and novel biological discoveries, evidenced by her consistently highly cited publications in the top journals of the field, with over 50% of her papers having appeared in the top 1-2% of journals in the field of computational biology and genomics.

Her research is in close collaboration with investigators from diverse disciplines, and she has established many strong national (6 current) and international (10 current) collaborations with world-leading computational and experimental biologists. The current goal of her research group is to make use of machine learning, computational and statistical method development, and the power of deep sequencing approaches combined with experimental validation to explore diverse modes of gene regulatory networks. Her skills and expertise in integrative computational models of gene regulation networks, founded on her research training in these areas in world-leading gene regulation laboratories (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute and Copenhagen University), are of particular importance for the data-driven modelling approaches.

Associate Professor Michael McDonald leads the Microbial Experimental Evolution laboratory in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University and has established himself as a national leader for research at the interface of evolution, genomics, and microbiology.

Dr McDonald’s research group in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University has the rare attribute of working with diverse microbial organisms: classic model organisms (E. coli, baker’s yeast, and the yeast C. albicans) as well as new model systems he has developed for experimental evolution – H. pylori, A. baumannii and A. baylyi (horizontal gene transfer and recombination), L. plantarum and C. albicans (experimental co-evolution) and bacteriophage. This versatility is important for the research aim of MACSYS: to construct whole-cell models for diverse prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Dr McDonald and his research group will lead MACSYS efforts to use whole-cell models to predict the outcomes of evolution.

Marc Wilkins is a Professor in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW Sydney where he leads an Australian Research Council-funded proteomics and molecular systems biology lab.

Professor Wilkins brings 25 years of experience in proteomics research, and 12 years’ experience in molecular systems biology of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. His reputation as a leader in the field of proteomics, especially protein post-translational modifications, is reflected in his more than 240 journal publications and over 30k citations (Google scholar). He also has extensive experience in the generation and analysis of genomic and transcriptomic data, using short- and long-read next-generation sequencing techniques.

Professor Wilkins has additional experience in the management and growth of major research infrastructure, serving as Director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics from 2011 to 2022. This Centre is the largest such facility at any Australian University, is infrastructure of national significance and funded under the NCRIS program. Typically, it analyses over 60,000 samples per annum for the genomics research community – the majority by next-generation sequencing techniques.

In addition to his academic profile, Professor Wilkins has six years’ full time experience in industry, having co-founded two biotechnology companies. These companies, both which were listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), took analytical instrumentation, software, in-field testing devices or live cell products to market. Professor Wilkins has also advised the NSW State Government, the Australian Government and the Government of New Zealand on aspects of science policy.

Professor Jennifer Flegg is an applied mathematician in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. Professor Flegg is an established international academic leader in mathematical biology with a focus on developing mathematical models of biological phenomena and calibrating them to data.

Professor Flegg’s research focuses on using mathematics and statistics to answer questions in biology and medicine, with a particular emphasis on mathematical models in areas such as wound healing, tumour growth and infectious disease epidemiology.

Professor Flegg has an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed journals and has been awarded several prestigious honours for her work, including the JH Michell Medal in 2020 for excellence in research by ANZIAM (Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics), the Christopher Heyde Medal in 2020 from the Australian Academy of Science and the Society for Mathematical Biology Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize in 2021. She also serves as an Editorial Board member for PLOS Computational Biology, eLife, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics.