Invited Speakers

Christopher Dean Goodman is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne where he studies the genetics and cell biology of malaria parasites.
Dr Goodman began scientific research later in his career, after completing a degree in Political Science and sailing on a tall ship in the North Atlantic. As an undergraduate at the University of Victoria (Canada), he researched fungal molecular biology, soil dynamics, and the ecological impacts of salmon farming before moving to Stanford University (USA) for a PhD in plant molecular genetics and cell biology. His PhD produced three foundational papers in the synthesis and cellular trafficking of pigments determining the colour and u.v. sensitivity of ornamental and crop plants.
After moving to the University of Melbourne, he started an ongoing, 23-year collaboration with Professor Geoff McFadden studying apicomplexan parasites. His published work spans drug development and resistance, organellar biology, parasite sexual development, malaria genetics, and mosquito-parasite interactions. His current research programme applies insights into the basic biology of mosquito stage parasites, the evolution of drug resistance, and parasite population genetics to develop new transmission-blocking strategies aimed at advancing malaria eradication.

Jonathan is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). He received his undergraduate and PhD training at Cambridge University, before doing post-doctoral research at University of California Irvine, all in the field of signal transduction. He was faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota for 15 years, before joining MCW in 2017 as the Chair of Cell Biology. Our lab works on identification of new targets and treatments for infectious diseases caused by parasitic flatworms. A key interest is understanding ion channel signaling pathways that guide physiological progress throughout the schistosome life cycle.