Dr Saem Park is a research fellow at the University of Auckland and leads the digital tissue profiling work at Professor Rod Dunbar’s immunology lab. Saem is also a technology mentor at the Maurice Wilkins Centre, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence targeting serious human disease, where she connects and supports multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research projects. Dr Park’s current research aims to explore the landscape of the tumour microenvironment using an integrative approach that involves high-dimensional flow cytometry, multiplexed tissue imaging, and spatial transcriptomics techniques. She is especially interested in investigating how various types of immune and stromal cells interact with tumour cells in different microenvironments using cutting-edge spatial biology tools. Her recent work was awarded the Chris and Bhama Parish Immunology & Cell Biology Publication of the Year in 2021. Saem widely collaborates with cancer researchers, clinicians and pathologists on various studies aiming to discover novel diagnostic and prognostic markers for human cancer. Her research is supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Maurice Wilkins Centre, and Auckland UniServices.

Rory is a PhD student researching cancer-associated fibroblasts in colorectal cancer, focusing on their role in the immune response and how they interact with T cells. Rory has obtained a Bachelor of Biomedical Science majoring in Human Genetics and Molecular Pathology and a Master in Clinical Immunology with distinction, both from Victoria University of Wellington. However, coming to Otago in the Kemp Lab to study T cells in colorectal cancer and stayed on to study how fibroblasts affect the T cell response in his PhD. Rory enjoys CrossFit and hiking in his spare time.

Dr Thomas oversees the high-dimensional cytometry, single-cell, and spatial multiomics capabilities of the Sydney Cytometry Core Research Facility, and co-leads the Single Cell and Spatial Biology node of the Charles Perkins Centre. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in Infectious Disease and Immunology with the School of Medical Sciences, and leads a collaborative endeavour in the development of new laboratory and computational methods for single-cell and spatial systems immunology.