Dear All,
Welcome to our October newsletter! It’s been lovely to see so many connections across NCIC this month, from welcoming Prof Maddalena Giannella and Dr Martina Casarini from the University of Bologna to seeing our team share their work and expertise at conferences. It’s also been lovely to see the different areas of work coming together, including our paediatric infectious diseases and antibiotic allergy teams, alongside our ongoing work in infections in cancer. There’s plenty happening across our community, and lots to celebrate!
With the end of the year approaching, we're starting to look back on what has been a big year for NCIC. We're putting together some highlights to share with you in our next newsletter, so stay tuned! For now, I hope you enjoy catching up on this month's newsletter and all the latest from across NCIC.
PhD Clinician-Researcher Information Night
Earlier this month, we hosted an engaging and interactive PhD Clinician-Researcher Information Night, bringing together clinicians interested in exploring the PhD pathway.
A big thank you to all our speakers for sharing their experiences and insights. We hope the session was helpful for clinicians considering doctoral research and gave them a better understanding of the different pathways and opportunities available.
For those who couldn't join us, recordings of the sessions are now available here.
Welcoming Our Visitors from Italy
(Left to right): Dr Martina Casarini (University of Bologna), Prof Karin Thursky, Prof Maddalena Giannella (University of Bologna), Prof Monica Slavin, Dr Natalie Yap, Dr Alice Liu, Dr Zoe Neoh
One of this month's highlights was welcoming Prof Maddalena Giannella and Dr Martina Casarini from the University of Bologna, Italy, to NCIC!
Prof Giannella delivered an excellent presentation that was described by the audience as keynote-worthy. She shared insights from her work on infections in immunocompromised patients, antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, including the development of the Giannella risk scores to predict carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and CRE infections in transplant recipients. These tools help identify patients at higher risk and support more targeted approaches to infection prevention and management.
While Prof Giannella's visit was short and sweet, Dr Martina Casarini will be staying with us for six weeks as part of a clinical observership. We're looking forward to having Martina as part of the team, exchanging knowledge and experiences, and making the most of her time with us!
Conference Highlights
Drug Hypersensitivity Symposium 2026 – Melbourne
While much of NCIC's work focuses on infections in cancer, we also have an excellent team working in antibiotic allergy research - an important part of our work that deserves its own spotlight. The team includes Nurse Practitioner Belinda Lambros, Dr Morgan Rose and Research Nurse Evona Fung, who work together to improve antibiotic allergy assessment and management.
At the DHS2026 (23-25 October 2026) in Melbourne, Dr Morgan Rose and Dr Gemma Reynolds presented on antibiotic allergy self-assessment and improving assessment practices in hospital settings. Evona also presented her research exploring barriers and opportunities for establishing an inpatient antibiotic allergy oral challenge service in a cancer centre.
Congratulations to the team for showcasing this important work!
Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ANZPID) Clinical Meeting – Christchurch, New Zealand
At the ANZPID Clinical Meeting from 29-30 October 2026, our very own Dr Natalie Yap and Dr Nelson Wang presented Too Many Pathogens, Too Few T Cells, exploring a challenging post-transplant case involving human adenovirus (HAdV) infection.
Their presentation covered emerging evidence and practical considerations in managing HAdV infection following cellular therapy and allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation, highlighting advances in monitoring, consensus definitions and novel therapeutic approaches. The presentation also complemented their recently accepted Current Opinion article on HAdV infection in transplant and cellular therapy recipients, co-authored with A/Prof Michelle Yong and A/Prof Gab Haeusler.
Congratulations to Dr Nick Laundy on His Fellowship Grant!
Congratulations to Dr Nick Laundy, who has been awarded the RCPA Foundation Postgraduate Research Fellowship in support of his PhD research with NCIC!
Nick's project, VIKTOR-CAR, aims to characterise the incidence, natural history and kinetics of CMV reactivation, alongside the recovery of CMV-specific T-cell immunity, in patients with B-cell lymphoma receiving CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy. The findings will help inform more tailored approaches to CMV surveillance and management in this patient population. The fellowship will provide valuable support for the laboratory analyses underpinning this research.
A fantastic achievement, Nick! We look forward to seeing how the project progresses and the insights it brings to CMV management following CAR T-cell therapy.
Student Spotlight: Julia Zhevelyuk and Andrea Liew
Under the supervision of A/Prof Michelle Yong, Julia Zhevelyuk (co-supervised by Dr Shio Yen Tio) and Andrea Liew (co-supervised by Lab Manager Surekha Tennakoon) have recently completed their nine-month Honours research placements with NCIC as part of the Bachelor of Biomedicine (Honours) program at the University of Melbourne.
Julia's project investigated the timing of bronchoalveolar lavage following radiological identification of pulmonary infiltrates and its association with diagnostic yield in patients with haematological malignancies. Andrea's project explored the differential cell counts of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid between infectious and non-infectious pulmonary complications in patients with haematological malignancies.
It has been a pleasure having Julia and Andrea as part of the NCIC team. We hope their time with us has been a valuable experience and that they've enjoyed being involved in our research. We wish them both all the best for the next stage of their journeys!
Julia Zhevelyuk & supervisors A/Prof Michelle Yong and Dr Shio Yen Tio.
Andrea Liew and Julia Zhevelyuk with supervisor A/Prof Michelle Yong
Save the Date: Upcoming Event
ANZMIG Education Meeting
Join us for the upcoming ANZMIG Education Meeting, hosted at Peter Mac!
Date: Friday, 20 November 2026
Venue: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Speakers: Dr Alexander Rofe, Dr Isaac Freelander, Dr Jennifer Phan
Please see the attached flyer for further details and register via the link provided.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Calling for Abstracts
A friendly reminder to keep these upcoming abstract submission deadlines on your radar!
Australian Society for Antimicrobials 26th Annual Scientific Meeting
📍 Brisbane, Queensland (Aus) | 25-27 February 2027
🔗 Abstract submission (Deadline: 11 December 2026)
Congress of the European Society of
Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global 2027
📍 Stockholm, Sweden | 9-13 April 2027
🔗 Abstract submission (Deadline: 18 November 2026)
Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) Annual Scientific Meeting 2027
📍 Cairns, Australia | 5-8 May 2027
🔗 Abstract submission (Deadline: 04 February 2027)
Fred Hutch Cancer Center – 6th Symposium on Infectious Diseases in the Immunocompromised Host
📍 Seattle, USA | 9-12 May 2027
🔗Abstract submission and travel stipends (Deadline: 14 January 2027)
Recent Publications
Study summary: In the post-Omicron era, non-COVID respiratory viral infections continue to cause substantial morbidity in solid organ transplant recipients, with overall clinical outcomes comparable to COVID-19.
Study summary: Aspergillus antigen lateral flow assays: Both assays showed promising diagnostic performance compared with the Platelia galactomannan assay, with the IMMY sōna assay demonstrating 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity, and the OLM assay 100% sensitivity and 81% specificity.
Study summary: ANZTCT CMV practice survey of 21 Australian and New Zealand centres provides an overview of current CMV monitoring and management practices, highlighting variation in approaches across transplant and cellular therapy services.
Study summary: Patient perspectives on COVID-19 surveillance - Most participants supported the proposed risk-stratified surveillance approach, with 88% approving its adoption, highlighting the value of patient involvement in developing more relevant surveillance strategies.
Follow us!
We look forward to connecting with you on both LinkedIn and BlueSky.
Kind regards,
Prof Monica Slavin, MBBS, MD, FRACP, FAAHMS
Head, Department Infectious Disease, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Professor of Infection in Cancer and Transplantation, University of Melbourne Department of Infectious Diseases and the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology
Director, National Centre for Infections in Cancer