Keynote Speakers

Professor Barry J. Marshall, a distinguished Nobel Laureate, serves as a Clinical Professor and Brand Ambassador at The University of Western Australia (UWA), where he also holds the title of Emeritus Professor. An alumnus of UWA (Class of 1974), Professor Marshall, alongside Emeritus Professor J. Robin Warren, was jointly awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This prestigious accolade recognised their pivotal discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its causal role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

Upon his return to Perth and UWA in 1996, following his tenure at the University of Virginia, Professor Marshall continued to receive significant international recognition. His election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1998, and as a Foreign Member of the esteemed U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2008, highlight his global scientific influence. Further distinctions include his election as a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2011, the China Friendship Award in 2015, and the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award in 2023.

Professor Marshall holds the title of formal director of The Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training, a Centre established in his honour. The Marshall Centre is widely acclaimed for its foundational research on Helicobacter pylori and remains at the forefront of infectious disease identification and surveillance, diagnostics, drug design, and transformative scientific discoveries. Professor Marshall’s research group has proactively embraced cutting-edge technologies, including next-generation sequencing and genomic analysis. His innovative approach recently led to the development of a novel method for diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders through the application of artificial intelligence to bowel sound analysis.

Additionally, Professor Marshall will serve as the formal Host of CHRO 2024 in Perth, further elevating Western Australia’s standing in global health discourse. His sustained contributions to medical science and pioneering work in infectious diseases continue to exert a profound and lasting impact on global health outcomes.

Dr. Richard J. Roberts is the Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts. He received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1968 from Sheffield University and then moved as a postdoctoral fellow to Harvard. From 1972 to 1992, he worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, eventually becoming Assistant Director for Research under Dr. J.D. Watson. He began work on the newly discovered Type II restriction enzymes in 1972 and these enzymes have been a major research theme.

Studies of transcription in Adenovirus-2 led to the discovery of split genes and mRNA splicing in 1977, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1993. During the sequencing of the Adenovirus-2 genome, computational tools became essential and his laboratory pioneered the application of computers in this area. DNA methyltransferases, as components of restriction-modification systems are also of active interest and the first crystal structures for the HhaI methyltransferase led to the discovery of base flipping. Bioinformatic studies of microbial genomes to find new restriction systems are a major research focus as is the elucidation of DNA methyltransferase recognition sequences using SMRT sequencing. He frequently runs campaigns among Nobel Laureates to support humanitarian causes including strong support for GMOs to solve world hunger.