Sidonia Eckle
Group Leader, University of Melbourne, Australia
Sidonia is a Group Leader, an NHMRC Emerging Leadership and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow at The University of Melbourne as part of the Doherty Institute. Her research, at the cross-roads of cellular immunology and biochemistry, focuses on (i) MAIT cells in protective immunity and (ii) allergies mediated by (un)conventional T cells, both with the view to develop vaccines and therapies. As part of a multidisciplinary effort, Sidonia previously played a pivotal role in (i) discovering the bacterial/yeast MAIT cell antigens and the associated generation of MR1 tetramers licensed to the NIH tetramer core facility and Immudex, (ii) characterising the recognition of MR1-antigen by MAIT TCR and CD8 and (iii) describing MAIT cell modulation by small molecule drugs. Sidonia was part of the local organising team of the 2015 CD1-MR1 Conference in Lorne and is looking forward to co-chairing the 2024 Conference in Hobart.