Careers and Industry Networking Session

Careers and Industry Networking Session

The careers event highlights diverse job pathways available to bioinformaticians, helping students gain confidence in networking, learn about key industry skills, and explore various entry programs.

The format of the event is like speed networking:

  • Each representative to give brief introduction about themselves, their company, and their work in bioinformatics to the whole cohort
  • Representatives then rotate around to tables of seated participants, facilitating discussions on industry trends and answering career questions
  • The event will conclude with open networking, giving attendees the chance to reconnect with representative in smaller groups or one on one.

Venue: Art Halls, Old Arts Building 149, College Crescent, The University of Melbourne
Date: Wednesday 4 December
Time: 5-6.30pm

Dr Megan Coomer
Founder and CEO, Cell Bauhaus

Megan has spent 15+ years training and working at the crossroads of applied mathematics, bioinformatics, and biology. Her academic research broadly focuses on building stochastic models of different biological processes. She is passionate about breaking down barriers between mathematicians and biologists to advance translational research.

In 2023 Megan co-founded Cell Bauhaus with ARC Laureate Professor Michael Stumpf. At Cell Bauhaus, our mission is to leverage virtual cell technology to accelerate the discovery of sustainable solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems.

Dr Gad Abraham
Senior Manager and Interim Head of the Bioinformatics & AI team, CSL Research

Dr Gad Abraham is a Senior Manager and Interim Head of the Bioinformatics & AI team at CSL Research in Melbourne, which he joined in 2021. The team’s work involves using human genetics and bioinformatics to inform CSL’s drug development pipeline, towards answering key scientific questions regarding target validation, indication prioritisation, adverse event prediction, and patient stratification. Prior to CSL, Dr Abraham was a group leader at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, working in the area of statistical genetic analysis of autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases. He received his PhD in bioinformatics from the University of Melbourne in 2012.

Associate Professor Sonika Tyagi
School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University

Dr. Sonika Tyagi is an Associate Professor at the Data Science & AI division of the School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University Australia. She is also an affiliate Machine Learning lead scientist at Central Clinical School Monash University Australia.

Her outstanding contributions to the field have garnered recognition in the form of prestigious awards and funding. Sonika was a finalist for Women in AI (WAI) awards – Australia-NewZealand 2022 in the “AI in Health” category. Sonika was named as a Brilliant Women in Digital Health 2023. Sonika is an elected member of the Victorian branch leadership of the Australasian Institute of Digital health.

Her expertise is in developing new machine learning tools and pipelines, and applying these methods to solve biological and clinical research questions. Her current research focuses on integrative approaches for personalised medicine.

Dr Nadia Davidson
Head of Laboratory, WEHI

Dr. Nadia Davidson is a group leader at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), appointed jointly between the Blood Cell and Blood Cancer, and Bioinformatics Divisions. She received a PhD in Experimental Particle Physics from the University of Melbourne in 2011. Armed with training in the analysis of large datasets, she switched fields into bioinformatics, supervised by Prof. Alicia Oshlack. Nadia worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (2011-2019), and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (2019-2021), before establishing her own research group at the WEHI (2022).

Nadia’s science is centred on developing methods to analyse RNA sequencing data. She has built novel computational methods for cancer research and diagnosis, including software to identify clinically relevant rearranged genes. Her past research has also informed practices for analysing data from non-model organisms, with diverse projects such as the discovery of novel genes on the sex chromosomes of birds, to understanding why emus have stunted wings. She received the prestigious Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Society Early Career Researcher award in 2019, and currently holds an NHMRC Emerging Leader (EL2) Investigator Grant.

Miriam Yeung
Lead Computational Biologist – Cancer Genomics Translational Research Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Daniel Cameron
Senior Staff Bioinformatics Scientist, Illumina

Saber Dini
Senior Data Scientist, CSL

Justin Mabbutt
Business Development Manager, APR.Intern

Justin joined the APR.Intern team in 2019 as a Business Developer and is responsible for driving PhD industry internships in Victoria and Tasmania. As part of the role, Justin manages relationships between academia and industry, carefully matching PhD skillsets with industry research challenges to accelerate local innovation.