The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

At the institute's public lecture on 7 June 2011, the three speakers and topics were:

• Antibiotic resistance - the emerging public health threat, Dr Kirsty Buisingm - St Vincent's Hospital and The Royal Melbourne Hospital
• One hundred thousand new viruses per second, Dr Joe Sasadeusz - The Royal Melbourne Hospital
• An immunological offensive - can we strike back?, Dr Marc Pellegrini - Infection and Immunity Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Following the lecture presentations there was a question and answer session with the three speakers chaired by Professor Graham Brown, Foundation director, Nossal Institute for Global Health.

In the institute’s second public lecture for 2010, Blood cancers: advances in research, advances in therapy, Professor Andrew Roberts from our Cancer and Haematology division gave an overview of the major questions researchers are asking about leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancer.

He also presented examples of promising new areas of research that are likely to improve outcomes for patients.

This was followed by a panel discussion featuring Professor Donald Metcalf, Dr Kylie Mason, Dr Ashley Ng and Ms Rosie Hoyt.

In the institute's first public lecture for 2010, Malaria: a global disease - control and eradication, Professor Alan Cowman, Dr James Beeson and Professor Sir Gustav Nossal discussed the global impact malaria has on public health, the new treatments and vaccines that are being developed for this infectious disease and the likelihood of it being eradicated.

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s fourth public lecture for 2009, How will breast stem cells help find new treatments for breast cancer?, was held on 28 October. Associate Professor Geoff Lindeman, joint head of the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, discussed the common forms of breast cancer, new treatments for the disease and whether breast cancer is hereditary.