Professor Damien Purcell

Platform – mRNA vaccine production in Australia and its future implications: the silver lining of the pandemic

Professor Damian Purcell is a professor of virology at the University of Melbourne and theme leader for viral infectious diseases at the Peter Doherty Institute. His research focuses on molecular virology and RNA biology of human retroviruses HIV and HTLV-1. Since January 2020 he has led the virology research response on vaccines, immunotherapeutics and antivirals against SARS-CoV-2.  
 
He’s a founding director of the Australian RNA Production Consortium, executive committee member of the Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis Virology, governing councillor of the International Retrovirology Association, and past president of the Australasian Virology Society.