Human Reproduction 2011

Professor Damian Purcell

University of Melbourne

Associate Professor Damian Purcell is Reader in Virology and Head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory in Microbiology and Immunology Department of the University of Melbourne in Australia where he studies HIV RNA processing, and the interplay between virus and host intrinsic, innate and adaptive immune responses to infection. He has developed and trialed RNA-based therapeutics, vaccine candidates and immunotherapeutic interventions for HIV. He obtained his PhD in immunology studying the molecular biology of CD46 from the University of Melbourne in 1987. His career in HIV research began as a visiting associate in the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology at the NIAID, NIH with Malcolm Martin from 1991 to 1995 funded by an Australian NHMRC traveling fellowship. He returned to Australia as a Research Fellow at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne before taking his current position. He has published more than 100 papers and has 8 patents including some that have been commercialized.