Malaghan alumni series: Dr Kylie Quinn

1. Where are you from and where did you grow up?

I was born in Greymouth but my family moved a bit, so I grew up across a few corners of New Zealand. However, I spent the most time in Wellington.

2. Where were you before your time at the Malaghan?

Before joining the Malaghan, I was in Dunedin studying for a joint science and law degree at the University of Otago. During my studies there, I discovered immunology as a subject, my curiosity was piqued by the complexity and the power of the immune system.

I took a summer internship at the Malaghan before my honours year and absolutely loved it. It was my first taste of working with a big group of smart people on a mission to improve human health, and I was hooked. So I decided to drop the law, focus on the science and came back to the Malaghan a year later for a PhD!

3. When and what did you study at the Malaghan?

I did my summer studentship with the Malaghan in 2002-2003 and then did my PhD from 2004–2008. I worked on tuberculosis in Joanna Kirman’s lab, who is now an associate professor at the University of Otago. My project was trying to understand why TB is such a persistent infection but resistant to vaccines, and to develop a new vaccine for TB. It was a new but very supportive team – I learned so much from Jo and the others.

Clockwise from top left: Kylie Quinn, Joanna Kirman, Catherine Wood, Fenella Rich and Natalie Redshaw

4. What are some memorable experiences of your time at the Malaghan?

My strongest memories are about the camaraderie. Our PhD student cohort were so supportive on one another, and the staff were too. Morning teas were enthusiastically attended. Even Journal Club and PhD Club meetings got good turnouts. The Christmas party was legendary, especially the high level of commitment to turn up in ridiculously silly costumes. You know that you are working with a great group of like-minded people when the costumes are ridiculous.

5. What's been your career path since the Malaghan? What achievements are you most proud of?

After my PhD, I worked in the USA at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in one of their institutes called the Vaccine Research Center (VRC). For some context, the VRC helped with development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, so it was an incredible environment to train in. I was there for five years (2008–2013) and then moved to Melbourne where I worked at the Doherty Institute and Monash University before starting my own group at RMIT University in 2019.

I’m pretty proud of the work I did at the VRC characterising a vaccine called an adenoviral vector. That work was used to select an appropriate vaccine for Ebola, which is now licenced. I’m also really proud of my past and present students – I always get a kick seeing them out in the big wide world doing fulfilling, clever things.

6. How has your time at the Malaghan influenced your career?

My time at the Malaghan gave me a strong sense of accountability to the public, who were funding our work, and to the patient, who we were aiming to help. The Malaghan have always been proactive with outreach and accountability, but they were especially ahead of the curve at the time.

It also gave me a great network of talented colleagues who are some of my biggest supporters. For example, two former Malaghanites helped me set up my lab- Clare Slaney and David Ritchie- and I still collaborate with them. The first PhD student to graduate from my lab- Palak Mehta- had trained at the Malaghan.

Kylie Quinn at the microscope

7. Where are you working now and what's the focus of your research or role?

I’m now at RMIT University where I head the Ageing and Immunotherapies Lab. My lab is focused on understanding how the ageing process impacts on new immune-based therapies like CAR T-cell therapy and mRNA vaccines. We know that ageing can cause dramatic changes the immune cells so we want to use this knowledge to tailor immune-based therapies to the needs of an older immune system.

8. What's your advice to young New Zealand scientists today?

Get talking/writing about your science. The world needs people that can communicate complex information across diverse audiences, but this kind of communication requires practice. Practice identifying your audience, identifying what they need to know, then phrasing it in language that is accessible but still accurate.