Join us this coming March for the inaugural TB-CRE and MTBC Melbourne Symposium 2025!

The TB CRE and Melbourne TB Community are co-hosting a 1 ½ day research symposium (hybrid option available), targeted towards TB researchers, TB clinicians, and public health practitioners. We also welcome PhD students, early career researchers and clinicians of all career stages.

Speakers will include leading TB researchers from across Australia, sharing the findings of research underway locally and across the Asia-Pacific region. Full schedule of the one and a half day event is attached below.

Event details:

Date, Time and Venue:

World TB Day

24 Mar 2025, 3 - 5 pm

Doherty Institute, Ground floor Auditorium

25 Mar 2025, 8.30 - 5 pm

Doherty Institute, Mezzanine Seminar rooms (GM002/3)

Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity,

792 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 3000

Zoom webinar: https://unimelb.zoom.us/s/85166791192

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Full schedule of the one and a half day event:

Session 1: World TB Day and research

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
3.00pm	Registration (10 mins)
3.10-3.25	World TB Day Public Event (large meeting room) hosted by MTBC "Unite to End TB" (10mins + 5mins Q&A)	Chair: Dr. Khai Huang
3.25-3.40	Asymptomatic TB: Dispelling indoctrinated assumptions and reilluminating how We Can End TB	A/Prof. Anna Coussens
3.40-3.55	Experiential Experts - managing TB infection and family	Krista Watts
3.55-4.10	Maternal TB, what we know, what we need to do	Prof. Steve Graham
	A TB research agenda to end TB (10mins + 5mins Q&A)
4.10-4.15	Welcome and overview of TB research to end TB	Prof. Greg Fox
4.15-4.30	National TB research priorities overview	Prof. Justin Denholm
4.30-4.45	Regional TB research priorities overview	Prof. Ben Marais
4.45-5.00	Q&A: TB CRE	Dr. Khai Huang
5.00pm	Close

Session 2: New insights into tuberculosis host and pathogen (Chair: Sarah Dunstan)

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
8.30am	Registration (25 mins)
8.55am	Session 2.1: Pathogen (10mins + 5mins Q&A)	Dr. Katherine Bond
9.00-9.15	Effect of compensatory evolution on the emergence and transmission of rifampicin-resistant TB in Cape Town, South Africa	Prof. Helen Cox
9.15-9.30	Predicting drug resistance direct from sputum using nanopore sequencing	Prof. Lachlan Coin
9.30-9.45	First national genomic characterisation of M. tuberculosis in Australia (AusPathogen)	Dr. Kristy Horan
9.45-10.00	Targeting Carbon Metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Dr. Ivanhoe Leung
10.00-10.15	Optimising TB investments in Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan	Dr. Rowan Martin-Hughes
10.15-10.30	Modelling the epidemiology of TB in Vietnam	Long Bui, PhD
10.30am	Morning tea
	*Session 2.2: Host*	Prof. Ben Marais
10.50-11.05	Human and Pathogen co-evolution	A/Prof. Sarah Dunstan
11.05-11.20	Genome-wide association study reveals a novel tuberculosis susceptibility locus in multiple East Asian and European populations	Dr. Shirley Chang
11.20-11.35	Host factors relevant for stratified dosing of TB drugs	Prof. Jan-Willem Alffenaar
11.35-11.50	Effective immune responses to mycobacteria what age can tell us	Dr. Nicole L Messina
11.50pm	Lunch

Session 3: Translating research into policy and practice (Chair: Justin Denholm)

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
1pm	Introduction	Prof. Justin Denholm
1.10pm	Session 3.1: Translation into policy (15mins + 5mins Q&A)
1.10-1.30	Bridging the Policy-Practice Gap in PNG: Towards ending TB in high-burden MDR-TB settings	A/Prof. Suman Majumdar
1:30-1.50	Managing adverse effects from TB therapy (Historical practice, Delphi guidelines, next steps)	Dr. Kasha Singh
1:50-2.10	Paediatric TB research to change policy	Prof. Steve Graham
2.10-2.15	Close	Prof. Justin Denholm
2.15 pm	Session 3.2: TB clinical trials (10 mins+5 mins Q&A)	A/Prof. Anna Coussens
2.20-2.35	The SURE trial: towards reducing the burden of death and disability in children and adolescents with TBM	Dr. Julie Huynh
2.35-2.50	How frequently to monitor Drug resistant TB treatment? Improving the use of TB Trial data with an example from TB-PRACTECAL	Dr. Philipp du Cros
2.50-3.05	Host-Directed Therapies for Tuberculosis	Dr. Gail Cross
3:05-3:30	TB Clinical Trials: discussion of priorities and next steps	Dr. Dani Lin
3.30pm	Tea break
4.00-4.10	TB CRE and research collaboration in clinical and translational research	Prof. Greg Fox
4.10pm	PhD student Session (3 minutes + 2 min Q&A)	A/Prof Bernadette Saunders
4.15-4.20	Structural variation discovery in Mycobacterium tuberculosis through pangenomics	Aleix Baltrons
4.20-4.25	Improving the detection of tuberculosis in pregnancy	Alison Morton
4.25-4.30	Catastrophic costs of TB in Australia	Jemma Taylor
4.30-4.35	Managing tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea: a personal experience	Rendi Moke
4.35-4.40	Is a model of care for Tuberculosis Infection Screening and Treatment in Primary Care possible in Australia?	Madhumati Chatterji
4.40-4.45	Developing precision RNA therapeutics for Tuberculosis	Jan Schaefer
4.45-4.50	Sensitive detection of mixed-strain Mtb infections with TBtypeR	Jacob Munro
4.50pm	Close

Session 1: World TB Day and research

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
3.00pm	Registration (10 mins)
3.10-3.25	World TB Day Public Event (large meeting room) hosted by MTBC "Unite to End TB" (10mins + 5mins Q&A)	Chair: Dr. Khai Huang
3.25-3.40	Asymptomatic TB: Dispelling indoctrinated assumptions and reilluminating how We Can End TB	A/Prof. Anna Coussens
3.40-3.55	Experiential Experts - managing TB infection and family	Krista Watts
3.55-4.10	Maternal TB, what we know, what we need to do	Prof. Steve Graham
	A TB research agenda to end TB (10mins + 5mins Q&A)
4.10-4.15	Welcome and overview of TB research to end TB	Prof. Greg Fox
4.15-4.30	National TB research priorities overview	Prof. Justin Denholm
4.30-4.45	Regional TB research priorities overview	Prof. Ben Marais
4.45-5.00	Q&A: TB CRE	Dr. Khai Huang
5.00pm	Close

Session 2: New insights into tuberculosis host and pathogen (Chair: Sarah Dunstan)

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
8.30am	Registration
	Session 2.1: Pathogen (10mins + 5mins Q&A)
9.00-9.15	Effect of compensatory evolution on the emergence and transmission of rifampicin-resistant TB in Cape Town, South Africa	Prof. Helen Cox
9.15-9.30	Predicting drug resistance direct from sputum using nanopore sequencing	Mr. Lachlan Coin
9.30-9.45	First national genomic characterisation of M. tuberculosis in Australia (AusPathogen)	Dr. Kristy Horan
9.45-10.00	Targeting Carbon Metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Dr. Ivanhoe Leung
10.00-10.15	Optimising TB investments in Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan	Dr. Rowan Martin-Hughes
10.15-10.30	Impact of covid-19 on tuberculosis case detection in Viet Nam: a modelling analysis	Long Bui
10.30am	Morning tea
	*Session 2.2: Host*	Prof. Ben Marais
10.50-11.05	Human and pathogen genomics of TB	A/Prof. Sarah Dunstan
11.05-11.20	Genome-wide association study reveals a novel tuberculosis susceptibility locus in multiple East Asian and European populations	Dr. Shirley Chang
11.20-11.35	Host factors relevant for stratified dosing of TB drugs	Prof. Jan-Willem Alffenaar
11.35-11.50	Effective immune responses to mycobacteria what age can tell us	Dr. Nicole L Messina
11.50pm	Lunch

Session 3: Translating research into policy and practice (Chair: Justin Denholm)

Time	Presentation title	Speaker
1pm	Introduction	Prof. Justin Denholm
1.10pm	Session 3.1: Translation into policy (15mins + 5mins Q&A)
1.10-1.30	Bridging the Policy-Practice Gap in PNG: Towards ending TB in high-burden MDR-TB settings	A/Prof. Suman Majumdar
1:30-1.50	Managing adverse effects from TB therapy (Historical practice, Delphi guidelines, next steps)	Dr. Kasha Singh
1:50-2.10	Paediatric TB research to change policy	Prof. Steve Graham
2.10-2.15	Close	Prof. Justin Denholm
2.15 pm	Session 3.2: TB clinical trials (10 mins+5 mins Q&A)
2.15-2.30	The SURE trial: towards reducing the burden of death and disability in children and adolescents with TBM	Dr. Julie Huynh
2.30-2.45	How frequently to monitor Drug resistant TB treatment? Improving the use of TB Trial data with an example from TB-PRACTECAL	Dr. Philip du Cros
2.45-3.00	Host-Directed Therapies for Tuberculosis	Dr. Gail Cross
3:00-3:30	TB Clinical Trials: discussion of priorities and next steps	Dr. Dani Lin
3.30pm	Tea break
4.00-4.10	TB CRE and research collaboration in clinical and translational research	Prof. Greg Fox
4.10pm	PhD student Session (3 minutes + 2 min Q&A)
4.10-4.15	Structural variation discovery in Mycobacterium tuberculosis through pangenomics	Aleix Baltrons
4.15-4.20	Improving the detection of tuberculosis in pregnancy	Alison Morton
4.20-4.25	Catastrophic costs of TB in Australia	Jemma Taylor
4.25-4.30	Managing tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea: a personal experience	Rendi Moke
4.30-4.35	Is a model of care for Tuberculosis Infection Screening and Treatment in Primary Care possible in Australia?	Madhumati Chatterji
4.35-4.40	Developing precision RNA therapeutics for Tuberculosis	Jan Schaefer
4.50pm	Close

We look forward to seeing you at the event. Thank you!

Best regards,

TB CRE Administrator
Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control