Marcus Mohr is a first-year PhD student in the School of Translational Medicine at Monash University, based at the Baker Institute’s Translational Cardiology Centre. Under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Donner and A/Prof. Bing Wang, Marcus’s research is driven by a passion for discovery in both cardiac physiology and pathophysiology.. Building on a 2025 Honours project where he established a novel mouse model of shockable cardiac arrest, Marcus integrates his academic work with his professional experience as a Cardiac Technician. His doctoral work leverages the uniquely diverse models at the Translational Cardiology Centre to conduct cross-species studies of cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction. By bridging the gap between bench and bedside, Marcus aims to ellucidate novel prognostic approaches and improve mechanistic understandings of these acute cardiac events.

Scott Loh is a PhD student at the Translational Cardiology Centre within the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute investigating the biological determinants of survival and neurological recovery following cardiac arrest. His work uses rigorous preclinical models to dissect how arrest duration, resuscitation strategies — including adrenaline administration, and downstream inflammatory responses shape post-cardiac arrest syndrome. By integrating mechanistic physiology with translational biomarker discovery, Scott aims to redefine how we optimise resuscitation, improve neuroprognostication, and target the immune response after return of circulation. His research seeks to move beyond survival alone — towards meaningful neurological recovery and more precise, mechanism-driven therapies for cardiac arrest patients.

Ellen Keen is a PhD student in the Muscle Signalling team led by Dr James McNamara and in the Heart Disease group led by Professor David Elliott at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her PhD is supported by an Australian Government Research Training scholarship through the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of heart development, cardiac homeostasis, and the maladaptive processes that drive heart disease. Prior to her PhD, Ellen did her Bachelor of Science (Honours), majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Melbourne. She then worked as a research assistant in the Muscle Signalling team at MCRI. In the first year of her PhD, Ellens has utilised her expertise in molecular biology and cardiac development to advance the maturity of iPSC cardiac monolayers and simultaneously developed a high-throughput physiological screening pipeline, advancing her skills in microscopy and imaging analysis.

I am an a Bachelor of Biomedical Science honours student at the University of Newcastle and am undertaking my project in the Newcastle Cardio- Oncology Center for Excellence lab group. My project is focusing on the elucidation of the cardiotoxic mechanisms that preceed chemotherapy treatments such as anthracyclines and proteosome inhibitors such as Doxorubicin and Carfilzomib, respectively. My project is also aiming to identify the possibile novel agents as a potentaily cardioprotective co- treatments with either of these through high throughput transcriptomic analysis. Throughout my project, I wish to further my scope in elucidating transcriptomic relationships through the study of chemotherapy induced cardiotoxicity. I hope that this research will provide important findings into the biomolecular mechanisms of the cardiotoxic effects in response to anti- cancer agents in which approaches to mitigating heart failure can be directly translated to improving long term outcomes for post treatment cancer patients.

Umar is completing his PhD on metabolic phenotyping in coronary artery disease. He is also a cardiothoracic surgical trainee.

Teleah Belkin is a final year PhD student in the Metabolomics laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute under the supervision of Professor Julie McMullen, Dr Yow Keat Tham and Dr Amanda Edgley. She is affiliated with the School of Translational Medicine at Monash University. Her research focuses on PI3K signalling and lipid regulation in cardiac pathology, exploring mechanisms of cardiotoxicity and tissue crosstalk in dilated cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure. She served as Treasurer of the Baker Institute Student Committee and is actively involved in student mentorship. She has received multiple awards including the ISHR Student Investigator Oral Presentation award, the Alfred Research Alliance Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Prize for Cardiovascular Research, and the Baker Institute student talk and poster awards.

Mitchell C. Lock is a Lloyd Cox Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group at Adelaide University. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms by which suboptimal in utero conditions, such as fetal hypoxaemia, can influence lung maturation and cardiac development and the programming of adult cardiorespiratory disease. Through this research, Mitchell hopes to improve pregnancy outcomes to ensure that every baby gets the most out of life.

Amelia is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Physiology at the University of Auckland. Her research focus is on the cellular mechanisms of heart dysfunction, including cardiomyocyte calcium handling, contractility and mitochondrial energetics.