QUT - Health

Centre for Immunology and Infection Control

Integrating high-quality academic discovery with industry to address key global health challenges in immunology and infectious diseases.

Our research themes

Immunology Infection Control Environmental Exposure and Control

Immunology

Vaccine development requires a deep understanding of the immune mechanisms required to protect against an increasing range of infectious agents, both existing and emerging. Immune dysfunction, causing chronic inflammation and immunopathology contributes to conditions as diverse as infertility, allergy and autoimmunity. These conditions are increasingly associated with a western lifestyle and an aging population. We aim to find better solutions for early detection, prevention and treatment of infections and inflammatory disease through a greater understanding of basic immunology.

Infection Control

The development of improved prevention and treatment therapies against infectious agents requires not only an understanding of immune mechanisms, but also a thorough understanding of the mechanisms of bacterial and viral pathogenesis, antimicrobial drug resistance and the interactions between pathogen, host and the microbiome. We are committed to the development of precision infection diagnostics, therapeutics and improved drug delivery systems in order to meet the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance, and change the way we prevent and treat infections.

Environmental Exposure and Control

In addition to patient-centric strategies focused in microbial pathogenesis and immune mechanisms, a reduction in diseases due to allergens and infectious agents requires population-based control measures. We are developing early warning systems for airborne allergen exposure and modelling the threat of expanding and emerging vector-borne viral infections. Community and hospital exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria and viruses remain a constant threat to public health, so we are also working towards reducing transmission of these pathogens through novel engineering controls and improved medical devices.

Theme D

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Find out more about our THEME research

Our experts

Professor Flavia Huygens

Professor Flavia Huygens is Director of the Centre for Immunology and Infection Control. A molecular-microbiologist with a PhD in Medical Microbiology, Flavia’s innovative and entrepreneurial research is founded in molecular diagnostics and therapeutics to diagnose, treat and prevent infectious diseases. Flavia is also currently the Associate Director (QIMR-Berghofer) at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).

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Professor Ken Beagley

Ken Beagley is Professor of Immunology at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), and is our Program Leader for Immunology. He received his PhD in 1984 from the University of Otago, New Zealand, received post-doctoral training at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) and has held faculty positions at UAB and the University of Newcastle before joining QUT in 2007. He is an internationally recognized reproductive and mucosal immunologist with expertise in chlamydial disease and chlamydial vaccine development, male infertility, herpes vaccine development and marsupial immunology.

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Associate Professor Makrina Totsika

Makrina Totsika is our Program Leader for Infection Control. She completed a Wellcome Trust funded PhD in 2007 at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and held post-doctoral positions at the University of Queensland before receiving a DECRA from the Australian Research Council in 2013 and joining QUT in 2014. Her work is at the forefront of novel antimicrobial drug research and development, which is promising to revolutionise the way we treat bacterial infections that are no longer treatable with antibiotics. She is the recipient of the Australian Society for Microbiology 2018 Frank Fenner Award and winner of the 2016 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year award by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science.

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Professor Kirsten Spann

Professor Kirsten Spann is our Program Leader for Environmental Exposure and Control. She is a research leader in the field of respiratory viral infections and in particular the interplay between viruses and the immune responses that underlie disease pathogenesis. Kirsten graduated with a PhD at the University of Queensland in 1997, and has conducted research with the CSIRO and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the U.S., as well as starting her own research group at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane focusing on research pertaining to respiratory viral infections.

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