Mat Francois is leading a research group that studies transcriptional regulation and cardio-Vascular Development at the University of Sydney. The group research activity relies on a highly multi-disciplinary approach that combines developmental biology, molecular imaging complemented by biophysics and genomics methods to investigate the control of gene transcription. The aim of our research is to take advantage of a deep understanding of transcription factor mode of action during development to unlock new therapeutic avenues in vascular-related pathologies. Findings from the lab have repositioned the clinical management of a two rare orphan diseases and opened up therapeutic avenue for infantile hemangioma. A spin off company from the lab (Gertrude Biomedical Pty Ltd, Bio21 Melbourne) was founded in 2019 is currently developing the next generation of anti-cancer therapeutics that target an endothelial specific transcription factor.

James is a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow and Team Leader of Muscle Signalling at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. His research focuses on uncovering the molecular mechanisms of genetic cardiomyopathies and developing precision therapies to treat these debilitating conditions.

Professor Natasha Harvey is Head of the Lymphatic Development Laboratory and Director of the Centre for Cancer Biology at the University of South Australia and SA Pathology. Natasha received her PhD from the University of Adelaide and undertook postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Guillermo Oliver at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA. Here, she focussed on defining the role of the homeobox transcription factor PROX1 in lymphatic vascular development. In 2005, she returned to Adelaide to establish her independent research program. Natasha’s work aims to understand how the lymphatic vasculature is constructed during development and how this process “goes wrong” in human lymphatic vessel pathologies. Her work in this field has been published in Development, Blood, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Science Translational Medicine and Nature.

Dr Drew Neavin is a senior post-doctoral research officer at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Drew is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of genetic contributions to disease and drug response. To achieve this, Drew developed and applies ‘village-in-a-dish’ platforms to culture hundreds to thousands of independent stem cell lines simultaneously, enabling the scale necessary to link genetic variation to cellular phenotypes and drug response.

Professor Fadi Charchar is the Director of the Health Innovation and Transformation Centre at Federation University. Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Visiting Chair at University of Leicester, UK. Professor Charchar is the President of the International Society of Heart Research. He previously completed a Wellcome Trust Fellowship, an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and a British Heart Foundation Lectureship in the UK. His research interest is in the understanding of the genetic mechanisms of cardiovascular disease with publications in the Lancet, Nature, and Nature Genetics.

James runs the Cardiac Bioengineering lab at QIMR Berghofer. James’ lab has brought together engineering and cell biology disciplines to develop human cardiac organoid screening platforms. As the inaugural recipient of the Snow Medical Fellowship in 2021, he is now generating a ‘Cardiopedia’ aiming to provide a comprehensive map of the molecular processes governing cardiac function. His work bridges basic science through to drug development for heart failure and targeting the pathological biological processes in heart failure. James regularly publishes leading innovations in cardiovascular research in the top journals in his field. For his work he has won the Metcalf Prize from the NSCFA in 2019, the Jian Zhou Medal from AAHMS in 2024 and the Jacques Miller Medal from the AAS in 2025.

Professor Nathan Palpant received PhD training at the University of Michigan and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. In 2015 he established his independent research group at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Dr Palpant is a Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow and recipient of the International Society for Heart Research Young Investigator Award and the Lorne Genome Millennium Science Award. His research program focuses on mechanisms of cardiovascular development disease and involves interdisciplinary approaches in stem cell biology, genetics and genomics, and drug discovery. Dr Palpant is co-founder of Infensa Bioscience, which aims to develop new therapeutics for ischemic heart disease.