The government can’t claim that medical research is a priority while failing to treat it as one. Nine in 10 leading researchers in Australia are missing out on government support for world‑class proposals, leaving exceptional talent uncertain about their future.

Think climate change won’t touch you? Next time a mosquito bites, consider what it might be carrying. As temperatures rise, mosquitoes and other vectors expand their range, bringing viruses like dengue, yellow fever, and malaria (among others) closer to home. Important thread👇

NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇

Curiosity sparked it all, and that curiosity just earned one of science’s highest honors. In the Australian, rb.gy/cdwmki Yet government funding for curiosity-driven science is at an all-time low. Success rates are plummeting. If we don’t invest in curiosity, we risk losing the next big discovery.

A year in review at the Biomedical Discovery Institute @monashuniversity.bsky.social a great place to do discovery research that drives transformations in science and health #discoveryresearchmatters #fundresearchproperly

Me at meetings while still waiting on proofs of an accepted manuscript to arrive in my inbox... #comeon #academiclimbo #excitementbuilding

Five years of COVID taught us one thing: immunology didn’t fail, our public discourse did. My new Substack cuts through the noise with evidence, not ideology. If you want facts over fear, and science over spin, join here: marcveldhoen.substac... 1/2

Melbourne from the train, weekday evening. #melbournecbd

Finally landed back in Melbourne after 4 hour delay due to faulty plane, Perth #ASI2025 was terrific, great science, great colleagues and great weather! Already looking forward to Canberra #ASI2026 already!

Do yourself a favour and come to hear the fantastic work by @niclag.bsky.social and her team, identifying molecular drivers of age related T cell dysfunction #ASI2025 #Tcellsarecool

Now up in the Thursday Plenary @kerryhilligan.bsky.social the #ASI2025 the Peter Doherty medal recipient, celebrating research excellence by ECRs

Super proud that my PhD mentor being awarded the #Burnetmedal at #ASI2025 in Perth, Frank Carbone and the discovery of cross-presentation, and its role in priming killer T cell responses, using his original lecture slides from late 80’s #classicfrank

Waves meet the sand on the beautiful North Coast of NSW. North Coast of New South Wales. © 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓡𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼 𝓡𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓚𝓮𝓿 𝓟𝓮𝓲𝓻𝓬𝓮. #photo #photography #australia #NewSouthWales #AustralianBeach #CoastalView #OceanView #GoldenSand

Excited to hear from @msmacrophage.bsky.social about aging, infection and immunity #ASI2025 #PerthASI #immunologyiscool

Oh great, so a solution to climate change has to adapt because we were too slow to adapt to climate change, looking at you @liberalaus.bluesky.social

Great to contribute to this great study from @sammybedoui and colleagues at the Peter Doherty Institute Microbiota-derived butyrate promotes a FOXO1-induced stemness program and preserves CD8+ T cell immunity against melanoma: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

What a wonderful day of science, organised and led by the Dept of Microbiology @monashuniversity.bsky.social grad students, great science, great presentations, great interactions, the discipline of Microbiology is in great hands!

A long walk to the sea. Solitude and light on the jetty. Elliston, South Australia. © 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓡𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼 𝓡𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓚𝓮𝓿 𝓟𝓮𝓲𝓻𝓬𝓮. #photo #photography #australia #southaustralia #EllistonJetty #JettyLife #BlackAndWhitePhotography #Monochrome #Seascape #OceanView #jetty

Looking forward to hearing more about this during my visit to @tcddublin.bsky.social today with @adrianbracken.bsky.social lab.

Conference dinner for @events.embl.org #EESImaging at Heidelburg castle last night. Amazing venue, onto the last couple of sessions today, what a great conference, amazing science, amazing community, very much worth the trip #scienceyeah #imagingiscool #superresolution #seeingisbelieving

Wow! @gaiapigino.bsky.social using cryo-EM tomography to reveal the dynamic choreography of molecular machines in cilia assembly. Same components, different conformation depending on cargo delivery vs removal, working like a biological transformer. @events.embl.org #EESImaging #scienceyeah

Day 3 @events.embl.org symposia #EESImaging another exciting day as we are about to go on a deep dive into imaging molecules in cells #scienceyeah #superresolutioniscool #imagingiscool #seeingisbelieving

Day 2 of the @embo.org @events.embl.org #EESImaging symposia. Exciting day of science ahead focussing on dynamic single molecule imaging, can’t wait to apply some of this to our own work #scienceyeah #Tcellsarecool #smlmisverycool

Excited to be at the @events.embl.org #EEEImaging conference in Heidelberg, Germany, hearing the latest in cutting edge imaging of biological systems. The ATC (G) building is modelled on the double DNA helix, the bridges represent the H bonds b/n nucleotides #scienceyeah #microscopyiscool

Excited to announce our latest preprint, exploring the stereochemistry & antiviral properties of natural product MM46115 (pellemicin) against influenza. 🦠 💊 Big thanks to all co authors, including @afifahtasnim.bsky.social @craigpthomp.bsky.social and others. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bit of colour @monashuniversity.bsky.social today #springshower #melbourneweather #capturemonash

In the #BDI infection program retreat, listening to Fran Short, Dept of Micro @monashuniversity.bsky.social Sampling of fresh creek water identified pathogenic E. coli in microbial communities, highly active AMR gene and virulence determinants #dontswiminthedandenongcreek

Who remembers these note books? Once a common sight in labs for recording keeping. Was cleaning out my office for a move into a new role and found a set of books from a past grad student, love the fact there is raw data, protocols, even mouse cards all in one place #scienceyeah

Quince tree update: we have blooming 💐 now just need bees to pollinate

@leonsmyth.bsky.social just gave a fascinating talk on how brain substructures enable brain waste management, interface with immune cells @monashuniversity.bsky.social

Quince tree update: We have flower buds, I repeat, we have flower buds

TFW the new protocol your grad student set up to test a harebrained idea looks like it worked! #superstargradstudent #Tcellsarecool #epigeneticsiscool #scienceyeah @pacbio.bsky.social #pacbioapplications

Spring is coming #blossoms #springhassprung #quincetreeflowerimg

Just read the draft of Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Strategy. Great to see full funding of research being addressed as a need — but an emphasis on discovery research is missing. You can’t drive impact without fueling the pipeline with fundamental/discovery science.

Up next, talking with 2nd yr microbiology students @monashuniversity.bsky.social about how the innate immune system engages with different pathogens, RNA viruses 🦠 Gram +ves, DNA viruses, Gram -ves #scienceyeah #microbiologyiscool #campuslife

Currently sitting in a seminar from Chris Stubenrauch, learning how efflux pumps found in Gram -ve bugs are also found in Gram +ve bugs, instead of outer membrane interactions, they interact with outer protein layers instead @monashuniversity.bsky.social #scienceyeah #microbesarecool

Just finished up an amazing visit to Harry Perkins Medical Institute in Perth. It was a reminder of why I love research. Getting to present our most recent findings, getting great questions, learning about the cool science others are doing, and coming away with new collaborations #scienceyeah

New preprint: Ever wonder why memory T cells can look like naive T cells but act like effectors? Part the reason is that a chromatin binding protein called SATB1 restrains acquisition of effector phenotypes. Shout out to my grad student Jason Kah for this work. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

This is a wonderful study, it is amazing to watch how immune cells can get into tight spaces…

This is a wonderful paper. Addressing the age old question: how do chromatin remodellers know where to go? I am sharing this with my grad students and postdocs, and what the hell, anyone else that is interested #epigeneticsiscool #transcriptioniscool #scienceyeah

A smorgasbord of immunity seminars this week. Today, we are excited to hear from Prof Kate Schroder, and her uncomfortable truth that the adaptive immune system is important, how inflammasomes can promote effective adaptive immune responses #immunityiscool #inflammasomesarereallycool #scienceyeah

Prof David Tarlinton telling us about the dynamics of long lived plasma cells. Turns out B cells are also cool, #plasmacellsareforever #immunologyiscool #scienceyeah @monashuniversity.bsky.social

Networking with biomedical research stars of the future, introducing immunology to the 1st and 2nd yr Biomedical scholars #immunologyiscool #scienceyeah

A quiet day meeting wise, allowing me to do some reading and prep to write a new review about Killer T cells, now gotta stop procrastinating and get back to it #academicsky #labheadlife #Tcellsarecool #immunityiscool #scienceyeah

Got out to play a quick 18 at one of my favourite courses down here in the Mornington Peninsula, @standrewsbeachgc, had a crowd watching me on several holes, #golflife #golfround #morningtongolf #firstout #hardlyraining #passingshower

A couple days of R&R down at St Andrew’s Beach, winter down at the beach is awesome, #morningtonpeninsula #winterbreak #backnextweek

Went up to Bendigo this past weekend to visit the folks. Managed a visit to the Bendigo Art Gallery and caught the Frida Khalo exhibition. Can highly recommend visiting, amazing life and legacy.

Last afternoon of last day of the #leadingatmonash course, learning some great insights, looking forward to putting them in practice @monashuniversity.bsky.social #leadership

Learning some wonderful new facts at the Monash Micro dept students trivia night, #whoknew @monashuniversity.bsky.social great night, great group of students

Amazing paper