Highlights

Professor Lachlan Coin is a mathematician with a research focus on developing genomics and bioinformatics tools in infectious disease and cancer. He was originally drawn by the rigour and intellectual challenge of pure mathematics but now uses his maths background as a toolkit for solving complex problems in analysing high throughput biological data.

Professor Coin is best known for using approaches borrowed from machine learning, statistics and probability theory to interrogate genomic data.

In particular, Professor Coin has focussed on using these approaches to uncover genomic deletions and amplifications and has identified changes that are associated with increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

He has also developed approaches for finding minimal biomarker signatures associated with disease, and has applied these approaches to find biomarkers that distinguish bacterial from viral infection, and for the presence of active tuberculosis infection. He is also applying his methodology to develop a diagnostic tool for cancer from cell free DNA

Ultimately, Professor Coin is motivated by making discoveries that are routinely used in clinical practice and to inform public policy to improve health outcomes.

Professor Coin holds an Honorary Professor appointment with UQ, and is a Professor at the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Connect

Visit Henderson group webpage

Professor Ian Henderson is the Executive Director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland. In this role, he is responsible for developing the research strategy of an established, world-leading research institute with over 500 staff and students, fostering collaboration and raising the profile of the Institute and University internationally. 

Prior to becoming Executive Director, he was Deputy Director (Research) at IMB. Professor Henderson was previously the Director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at University of Birmingham from 2015-2018. 

He is a Professor of Microbial Biology who completed his Bachelor of Science (Hons) at University College Dublin and his PhD at Trinity College Dublin. He also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from The University of Birmingham. Professor Henderson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Professor Henderson's research interests focus on the cell surface of bacteria. This focus is based on the philosophy that the bacterial cell surface offers a rich source of molecules, which can be utilised and adapted to diagnose, prevent or treat infections that can lead to life-threatening disease in humans and animals.

His research group has three major themes exploiting a range of experimental techniques to address fundamental questions in the biology of host-pathogen interactions:

(1) Using biochemical and biophysical methodologies to study protein secretion in Gram negative bacteria
(2) using molecular biology, cellular biology and immunological methodologies to study the roles outer membrane proteins play in the interaction of pathogens with their hosts
(3) using genetic, structural, biochemical and biophysical techniques to understand the molecular basis for the integrity of the Gram-negative outer membrane.

Professor Henderson has published over 150 research papers, reviews and book chapters. He has an H-index of 62, and his publications have been cited over 15,000 times, with an average of 100 citations per paper. 

• Spotlight on Professor Ian Henderson