Infection and Immunity

It’s been widely publicised that the variant of SARS-CoV-2 associated with Melbourne’s outbreak is the B.1.617, the so-called ‘Indian’ variant. What do we know about it? Is it more transmissible? We speak with Dr Norelle Sherry, a Medical Microbiologist at the University of Melbourne’s Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory at the Doherty Institute, which is responsible for condu...

We are taking a step outside of our infection and immunity bubble to talk about mental health. Our guest is Dr Grant Blashki - he is a GP, lead clinical advisor for Beyond Blue and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health. Grant is going to talk through why some of us are feeling this way, some tips to manage our mental well-being and the latest evide...

We speak with Director of Doherty Epidemiology, Professor Jodie McVernon, picking her brains about what's happening in Melbourne right now - she analyses the types of transmission we are seeing in Melbourne, why we needed the 7-day circuit breaker and her top tip for getting through lockdown. We want to hear from you! Help us shape future episodes of our podcast by telling us a little about yourse...

The Victorian Government has announced they will commit an additional $245 million to fund the construction of the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease. Headquartered in the prestigious Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, the AIID will bring together an exceptional network of leading researchers, public health experts and clinicians from the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, the Doherty...

In this special two-part episode, we explore the role of COVID-19 treatments in the pandemic. From the very beginning, vaccines have been touted as the way out. We’ve all watched in real-time as various technologies have been developed, produced, tested and injected into people’s arms around the world. In part 1 we spoke with Associate Professor Steven Tong. An Infectious Diseases Physician at The...

In this special two-part episode, we explore the role of COVID-19 treatments in the pandemic. From the very beginning, vaccines have been touted as the way out. We’ve all watched in real-time as various technologies have been developed, produced, tested and injected into people’s arms around the world. In part 1 we speak with Associate Professor Steven Tong. An Infectious Diseases Physician at The...

Australia has seen a waning willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines, dropping from around 75 per cent late last year to around 60 per cent in February this year. Refusal has increased from 5 to 15 per cent. How do we increase confidence? We speak with vaccine confidence, acceptance and uptake expert, Associate Professor Margie Danchin. Margie is a consultant paediatrician at Melbourne's Royal Chil...

Professor Kanta Subbarao is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute. A virologist and physician, prior to her role at the Doherty Institute, she was at the helm of the Emerging Respiratory Viruses Section of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, where she worked on the o...

Usually Ben is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis at the Doherty Institute, and an infectious diseases clinician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. But during the pandemic, his expertise have been called upon by Victoria’s Department of Health. Last year he headed up the re-introduction of hotel quarantine and now he is managing the mammoth task of rolling out the COVID...

While our regular season is fortnightly, we are releasing this special episode today because of the timeliness of the topic. Doherty Institute Director, Professor Sharon Lewin answers some of the questions on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that we didn’t get to at our recent Q&A event, COVID-19 Vaccines - Your questions answered . We want to hear from you! Help us shape future episodes of our po...

Laureate Professor Peter Doherty talks COVID-19 vaccines, the importance of science communication and how he spent 2020. We want to hear from you! Help us shape future episodes of our podcast by telling us a little about yourself, how you listen to and what you'd like to hear more of in 2022. The survey is anonymous and will only take a few minutes to complete. Infection and Immunity – Evidence Ex...

We are super excited to launch our Doherty Institute podcast, Infection and Immunity - Evidence Explained. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.