Baum lab
The Baum lab has a wide range of interests covering every scale of biology and every stage of the malaria parasite lifecycle, developing new innovative technologies that advance the malaria eradication agenda. Over time, a key feature of our work has been imaging, visualising parasite biology at every scale from atomic to single molecule and sub-cellular super resolution right through to live imaging of malaria parasites on the move in multi-colour 4D. Beyond microscopy, however, we are also keen geneticists, using CRISPR/Cas9 tech, and increasingly fascinated by immunology, flow cytometry and vaccine technology. Our interests depend on the full mosquito lifecycle (using Plasmodium berghei and P. falciparum) and development of robust methods for host cell invasion study, whether red blood cell or hepatocyte. Together with international collaborators we're also heavily invested in applying biological knowledge to diagnostics. However, in the last five years our primary focus has shifted to walking the walk of next generation malaria vaccine technology. The world has waited too long for an efficacious, long-lasting malaria vaccine - so watch this space!! As a lab, we're ultimately best defined by the diverse interests and amazing unique skills of each researcher in the lab; each person brings their own style and thinking towards a holistic understanding of parasite biology and development of strategies to stop malaria disease.
Jake Baum
Lab Head: Although my research career has covered many wide areas of interests, I have had a long-standing fascination with the cell biology of malaria parasites. I am also passionate about malaria vaccines, diagnostics & translation.
Jem Murdoch
PhD student: Joining us in Sydney after a Masters in the Imperial College laboratory, Jem will be tackling key questions in sporozoite biology towards pre-erythrocytic vaccinology in particular the identification of novel B-cell target antigens.
Michael Johnson
Research Manager. Mike joins the lab in Sydney, and will be the backbone setting up malaria parasite transmission. Mike has a passion for imaging so watch this space for what's to come...
Claire Sayers
Postdoctoral Scientist. Joining us back in Oz having developed innovative programs in rodent malaria barcoding, Claire is the lead postdoc for our work on transmission at UNSW.
Darren Liu
Research Assistant. Darren joins us with a strong background in histology and mouse models. He's going to run the insectary and get transmission going! Exciting times.
Behdad Delavari
Postdoctoral Scientist. Behdad is our first bona fide engineer and joins us at an exciting time where we are starting to re-establish transmission and parasite purification, this time in Sydney!
Grace Peters
PhD student: Grace joins us following Honours at the Centenary Institute where she studied mitochondrial regulation in Mycobacterium abscessus infection, now moving to T-cell epitope discovery for next generation vaccines.
Shannen Butterly
Research Assistant: Joining us as an experienced pathologist and diagnostician, Shannen is our pioneer blazing a new trail beyond malaria into the detection of other diseases with point-of-care diagnostics.
Anne Nguyen
PhD student: Anne joins us following her Masters at UTS exploring vaccine target antigens in Toxoplasma. Her PhD focus centres on finding next generation targets for a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine.
Emmanuel Gyamfi
PhD student: Emmanuel is an international PhD student, coming to us having spent several years working on malaria transmission in both France and Cambodia. He aims to blaze a trail in transmission blocking strategies.
Geoffrey Pasvol
Emeritus Professor and legend in the field of clinical malaria, pathogenesis and red cell invasion with a particular interest in the still unresolved question of why children actually die from malaria...
Past lab members and visitors
Dr Adrian Najer (Postdoc/Senior Research Fellow) 2023; Dr Claire Andradi-Brown (PhD) 2023; Dr Farah Dahalan (Postdoc) 2022; Ms Hasha Hayden-Smith (Project Manager) 2022; Mr Alex Fyfe (Technician) 2022; Mr Mark Tunnicliff (Technician) 2022; Mr David Novotny (Research Assistant) 2022; Dr Sabrina Yahiya (PhD) 2022; Dr Mufiliat Toyin Famodimu (Postdoc) 2022; Dr Mo Ducker (Postdoc) 2022; Dr Fabio Fisher (Lab Manager) 2022; Dr Alisje Churchyard (Postdoc) 2021; Mr Ade Balogun (MSc) 2021; Mr Jinyuan Zhang (MSc) 2021; Ms Bowen Zhang (MSc) 2021; Mr Zayd Normand (MSc) 2021; Mr James Erskine Murdoch (MRES) 2021; Ms Chloe Lieng (MRES) 2021; Dr Josh Blight (Postdoc) 2021; Dr Eliana Real (Postdoc) 2021; Ms Shubha Talwar (MRES) 2020; Ms Carmen Rodriguez (MRES) 2020; Mr David Grimson (Research Assistant) 2021; Ms Mira Davidson (Technician) 2020; Dr Thomas Blake (PhD) 2020; Dr George Ashdown (Postdoc) 2020; Ms Emmanuoela Petsolari (MSc) 2020; Mr Jingran Zhuo (MRES) 2020; Ms Nina Short (MSc) 2020; Ms Marine Secchi (MRES) 2020; Ms Josephine Eum (MRES) 2020; Dr Silvia Haase (Postdoc) 2019; Dr Kathrin Witmer (Postdoc) 2019; Ms Karolina Oniszczuk (Technician) 2019; Ms Sarah Jordan (MSc) 2019; Mr Adam Efrat (MSc) 2019; Ms Irene Garcia Barbazan (Technician) 2019; Dr Kate Wright (Postdoc) 2019; Mr Fernando Sanchez-Roman Teran (Technician) 2019; Ms Linda Makhlouf (Technician) 2019; Ms Pantki Vaishnav (MSc) 2019; Dr Oriol Llora (PhD) 2019; Mr Oriol Llora (Visitor) 2019; Ms Evelyn Quansah (Visitor); Mr Brian Leung (MRES) 2018; Dr Oliver Lyth (PhD) 2018; Ms Emily Calamita (MSc) 2018; Ms Maddy Wynn (MSc) 2018; Ms Houriiyah Tegally (MSc) 2018; Dr Michael Delves (PDRA) 2018; Dr Marion Koch (PhD graduate) 2018; Ms Ursula Straschil (Technician and Laboratory Manager) 2018; Ms Dounia Cherkoui (Technician and MRES) 2018; Mr Tariq Shour (MSc) 2018; Ms Abigail Laverack (MRES) 2018; Mr Toby Barnes (MRES) 2017; Ms Eva Hamrud (MSc) 2017; Ms Dounia Cherkoui (MSc) 2017; Dr Holly Matthews (Postdoc) 2017; Ms. Celia Miguel Blanco (Technician) 2017; Ms. Olivia Swann (Technician) 2017; Mr. Max Addison (MRES) 2017; Ms. Xenia Karlsson (MSc) 2016; Ms. Sara Zakutansky (RT) 2016; Ms. Katja Hassler (Medical Student Visitor) 2016; Dr. Hella Baumann (Postdoc) 2016; Ms. Linda Makhlouf (MSc) 2016; Ms. Olivia Swann (MSc) 2016; Dr. Rama McCrorie (Postdoc) 2016; Dr. Andrea Ruecker (Postdoc) 2016; Dr. Chwen Tay (Postdoc) 2016; Ms. Eloise Withnell (Undergrad) 2016; Ms. Janice Tong (Undergrad) 2016; Mr. Dominic Raffin (Undergrad) 2016; Mr. Matthew Sinnott (Undergrad) 2016; Mr. Vladimir Chapman (Undergrad) 2016; Mr. David Busse (MSc) 2016; Ms. Mengqiao Li (MSc) 2016; Mr. Hossain Delowar (MSc) 2016; Dr. Sara Rute Lamas Oliveira Marques (Postdoc) 2016; Mr. Niklas Rehmert (MSc) 2015; Ms. Desiree Eggers (MSc) 2015; Mr Jonathan Mitchell (MSc) 2015; Dr. Alexandre Dufour (Visitor - Pasteur Institute) 2014; Dr. Maya Olshina (PhD) 2014; Dr. Liz Zuccala (PhD) 2014; Dr. Fiona Angrisano (PhD) 2014; Ms. Rachel Gillespie (MSc) 2014; Ms. Josie Ferreira (MSc) 2014; Mr. Javier Vinals Camallonga (MSc) 2014; Dr. Silvia Haase (Postdoc) 2014; Dr. Wilson Wong (Postdoc) 2014; Ms. Melanie Condron (Technician) 2014; Ms. Yan Hong Tan (Research Technician) 2014; Mr. Raphael Kim (Technician) 2014; Ms. Melanie Stockhausen (MSc) 2014; Ms. Grace Singh (Undergrad) 2014; Dr. Noa Dahan Pasternak (Visitor) 2013; Dr. Tim Satchwell (Visitor) 2013; Dr. Mark Scott (Visitor) 2013; Dr. Kartik Bane (Visitor) 2012; Dr. Ito Daisuke (Visitor) 2012; Dr. David Riglar (PhD) 2012; Mr. Danushka Marapana (Technician) 2012.