Dr Justine Mintern is an ARC Future Fellow and heads the Vaccine Biology laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Melbourne and the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, Melbourne Australia. Justine teaches biochemistry and cell biology to undergraduate students and leads the Graduate Research program in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Justine completed her PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia and undertook postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) and the Whitehead Institute for Medical Research (Boston, USA) before returning to The University of Melbourne, Australia to head her own laboratory. Justine’s research dissects the molecular pathways involved in promoting effective immune responses. Ongoing research projects include the investigation of dendritic cell biology, understanding how to initiate immunity to tumours and infection and the use of cutting-edge nanotechnology to advance the design of effective vaccines.