Registration closed 20 November 2019

About the workshop

The workshop will take place in Hobart, Tasmania on 5-6 December, 2019 at the RACV Apartment Hotel. If you book a room at the hotel, then please use Block Code: 1912MENZIE and Reference: 8985957 (10% discount if at least 8 rooms are booked for the workshop).

Registration

Registration closed 20 November 2019

2019 Program

Thursday, 5 December 2019

0815 – 0900

Workshop registration opens. 

Location:  RACV/RACT Hobart Apartment Hotel – Collins Room (Look for the WACI logo on the monitor outside the room)

0900 – 0930

Opening Session: Why are we here and where are we going? Location:  RACV/RACT Hobart Apartment Hotel – Collins Room

Prof Graeme Zosky – Deputy Director, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, UTAS

Jerome Le Nours – Welcome to the workshop

Howard Roberts – Millennium Science Pty Ltd

Theme 1 – Reagents, techniques, and applications

0930 – 1000

Theme 1 – Andy Flies – FAST proteins for Wild Immunology

1000 – 1030

Theme 1 – Sarah Shigdar – Can aptamers fill the gap? Their potential for WACI.

1030 – 1100

Morning tea

1100 – 1130

Theme 1 –Sri Ramarathinam – Devil is in the detail: Developing Mass spectrometry assays to understand antigen presentation in Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease

1130 – 1200

Theme 1 – Jerome Le Nours – Molecular insights into non-peptide-centric T cell immunity

1200 – 1300

Lunch – provided at the venue

Theme 2 – New Model Species Development

1300 – 1330

Theme 2 – Rob Miller – What new model species teach us about immune systems that mice did not

1330 – 1400

Theme 2 – Yuanyuan Cheng – Towards a better understanding of immune gene families in wild species in the era of 3rd-generation sequencing

1400 – 1430

Summary and discussion – Michelle Baker and Amanda Patchett

1430 – 1500

Afternoon tea

1500 – 1630

Day 1 summary and discussion

1800 – 2000

Science in the Pub – WACI pub talk (Click here to register)
Location: Republic Bar and Cafe­, 299 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart Wild diseases – the answers are out there #SciPubWild

Panellists
Travis Beddoe, La Trobe University
Chrissie Ong, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania
Liana Wait, Princeton University
Free nibbles at the event

Friday, 6 December 2019

0830 – 0900

Arrival and networking.

Location:  RACV/RACT Hobart Apartment Hotel – Collins Room

Theme 3 – New model species development

0900 – 0930

Theme 3 – Kenneth Beagley – Developing a Koala Chlamydia vaccine: a long and winding road

0930 – 1000

Theme 3 – Kirsty Short – Comparative genomics: an important weapon in the fight against avian influenza

1000 – 1030

Theme 3 – Anne Peters – A long-term individual-based study in a tropical bird

1030 – 1100

Morning tea

Theme 4 – WACI in the next decade

1100 – 1130

Theme 4 – Lee Skerratt – Emerging Infectious Diseases: past, present and future with a focus on chytridiomycosis?

1130 – 1200

Theme 4 – Michelle Baker

1200 – 1300

Lunch – provided at the venue

Theme 5 – Synthesis and strategy

1300 – 1300

Summary and discussion – Jerome Le Nours and Andy Flies

1330 – 1500

Manuscript outline(s) – Jerome Le Nours, Michelle Baker, Andy FliesExpand on the previous “The future of humans as model organisms” eLetter by Flies, Baker, Le Nours, and Rossjohn

Manuscripts for each theme

1500 – 1530

Afternoon tea

1530 – 1630

Funding plans (e.g. ARC Centre of Excellence (CoE) 2023)

1630 – TBD

Social hour(s)

Drinks and food can be purchased from the Cascade on Collins down the hallway. The Collins room is available all night for eating, drinking, and socialising.

Transportation

Airports:

Hobart Airport ~20 minute drive to conference venue; buses and taxis available

Launceston Airport ~2 hour drive to conference venue

Places to eat and drink

Things to do nearby

Mount Field National Park ~ 90 minutes

Bruny Island ~ 30 minute drive + 30 minute ferry ride

Port Arthur Historic Site ~ 90 minutes

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary ~ 30 minutes

Freycinet National Park ~ 2 hours 30 minutes

Mount Wellington – Kunanyi ~ 30 minutes

Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) ~ 20 minutes

Cradle Mountain National Park ~ 4 hours