NATIONAL SPEAKER

Professor Michael Beard heads the Viral Pathogenesis Research Laboratory and is Discipline Lead of the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Science at The University of Adelaide.  Professor Beards expertise and focus is the study of positive strand RNA viruses of the Flaviviridae family such as hepatitis C virus and other closely related viruses such as Dengue, West Nile Virus and more recently Zika virus. His laboratory is interested in the innate immune response to viral infection and characterising the host antiviral response through the expression of interferon stimulated genes. His team employs cutting edge molecular techniques such as CRISPR-related genome wide knockout and activator screens to identify novel host factors involved in viral lifecycles and host viral control, and mouse models to characterise the female hormonally regulated, interferon-epsilon, in control of sexual transmission of ZIKV infection of the female reproductive tract.