Intravital Microscopy Australia

Intravital Microscopy Australia Symposium 2026

We warmly invite you to the 2nd Intravital Microscopy Australia Symposium, to be held in Melbourne.

This year we have an exciting program featuring international and national speakers, with topics including human intravital imaging, intravital imaging in cancer and immunity, and cutting edge intravital analysis tools and systems.

We look forward to another exciting gathering of the Australian intravital community!

Dates: 17th-18th August, 2026

*10 bursaries are available to help cover travel cost, details in the abstract submission process.

Location: Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010

Registration

Abstract Submission

Keynote Speakers

A. Professor Francesco Marangoni

Physiology & Biophysics, School of Medicine, UC Irvine

Dr. Francesco Marangoni is an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine of the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on deciphering the spatio-temporal rules of immune modulation by integrating intravital imaging and fluorescent reporters of cellular functions. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, Francesco has published his work in high-impact journals, including Cell and Cancer Cell. Beyond research, he is deeply committed to the success of his students and postdocs; all his trainees secured competitive awards and positions in the field.

National Invited Speakers

A/Prof. Luis Alarcon-Martinez is Head of the Visual Neurovascular Unit at the University of Melbourne – Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA). Luis is a scientist in visual sciences and neuroscience, having developed sophisticated technical skills, including innovative imaging setups and microsurgical skills. A/Prof. Alarcon-Martinez completed his PhD in visual sciences at the University of Murcia (Spain). He pursued postdoctoral training at Barrow Neurological Institute (USA) – a leading neurosurgical training centre – to study vascular function in the central nervous system. A/Prof. Alarcon-Martinez has been a Marie Curie Fellow awarded by the European Commission. In 2015, he joined the Hospital Centre of the University of Montreal (Canada) to study neurovascular communication. In 2021, Luis moved from Canada to lead a team investigating neurovascular communication with cutting-edge research approaches at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA)/The University of Melbourne.

A/Prof. Alarcon-Martinez’s track record is supported by 32 manuscripts in journals such as Nature, PNAS, Brain, and Nature Communications. His findings have been highlighted in editorials of Nature and Brain. He has an FWCI of 3.21 (2015-2025; SciVal) and an h-index of 29 with 14 of his publications in the top 10% of most cited documents worldwide (SciVal). He has received 18 awards/prizes/mentions in Australia, Canada, and Spain. His work has provided new tools adopted in laboratories worldwide, including new transgenic mouse lines and customised in vivo multiphoton imaging setups to study the rodent visual system.

Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith

Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith is a Senior Postdoc working with Professor Edwin Hawkins at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. She completed her PhD in 2019 at La Trobe University with Professor Ivan Poon, receiving the Nancy Millis Medal for the top 5% of PhD theses. Georgia has secured multiple highly competitive national research grants, including an NHMRC Investigator Grant and a L’Oreal UNESCO For Women In Science Fellowship. Her research uses a series of high-resolution imaging techniques to examine the death and removal of cancer cells in vivo post-therapy. Georgia has published over 20 papers in prestigious journals such as Nature Communications and Science Advances, and received many awards including the internationally renowned Biochemical Society ECR Award in 2025. Georgia is a passionate science communicator, Keynote speaker and advocate of women in STEM.

Dr Yuki Honda-Keith

A/Prof. Luis Alarcon-Martinez

Dr Yuki Honda-Keith is a clinical dermatologist in Japan and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Precision Immunology Program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. Yuki is interested in immune cell interactions in melanoma and inflammatory skin diseases. She is currently investigating the immunological niche of melanoma, utilising two-photon microscopy and single-cell RNA sequencing analysis.

Dr Shu Wen Wen

Dr Shu Wen Wen is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Monash University, where she leads the Stroke Immunopathology research theme under the mentorship of Professor Connie Wong. Her work investigates the complex interactions between the brain and systemic immune system following ischaemic stroke, with the aim of identifying novel therapeutic strategies. Using intravital imaging approaches, experimental stroke models and single-cell RNA sequencing, she focuses on how stroke reshapes neutrophil function and contributes to post-stroke complications, including increased susceptibility to infection.

Dr Joshua Bourne

Dr Joshua Bourne is an NHMRC-funded Research Fellow at Monash University, leading the Thrombo-Immune Lab in Professor Connie Wong’s research programme. He completed his PhD in the UK with the University of Birmingham Platelet Group in 2022, before relocation to Australia to build on his expertise in intravital microscopy. He has since acquired >$1.5m, including an NHMRC Ideas Grant in 2025, to fund his research investigating the interplay between thromboinflammation and neuroimmunology, specifically in the context of cerebral ischaemia. Using two-photon intravital microscopy, he is able to longitudinally image brain-resident cells through an intact skull to quantify cell dynamics in response to stimuli. Since relocation, he has maintained a high publication output, attracting >800 citations and invited international talks in Canada and Japan. His work has been recognised through multiple national and international awards, most recently the Australia Vascular Biology Society “ECR Rising Star” award.

Dr Leon Smyth

Dr Leon Smyth leads the neuroimmune interactions laboratory at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. His group is interested in the unique relationship between the central nervous system and the immune system, and the rules and logic that govern this. His group is particularly interested in the borders of the brain - the meninges, skull, vasculature, and choroid plexus - which have emerged as key sites of CNS immune surveillance, and uncovering how these regulate immune responses in the CNS.

A/Prof Tatyana Chtanova

Associate Professor Tatyana Chtanova is the head of the Innate and Tumour Immunology laboratory, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney. After undergraduate studies at the University of New South Wales, Tatyana was awarded her PhD in 2005 for her thesis work on specific gene expression signatures for novel T cell subsets, performed at the Garvan Institute.

Following her PhD, Tatyana was awarded the Human Frontier Science Program Fellowship to train at the University of California, Berkeley. During her fellowship she gained expertise in intravital microscopy and applied it to uncover a unique immunological response to inflammation called neutrophil swarming and a novel mechanism of immune evasion by pathogens.

Tatyana’s main research interest is in developing unique approaches such as two-photon microscopy and in situ photoconversion to understand fundamental immunological processes including infection, wound repair and cancer. The overall goal of Tatyana’s research program is to harness inflammation to develop new immunotherapy for cancer and promote wound healing.

Prof Misty Jenkins

Professor Misty Jenkins AO is an NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Laboratory Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), where she leads the Immunotherapy Program and serves as Co-Director of Research Strategy at the Brain Cancer Centre.

Misty's research combines cutting-edge imaging with cancer immunology to uncover how immune cells behave inside brain tumours and how they can be engineered to fight cancer more effectively. Her laboratory develops next-generation CAR T cell therapies for adult and paediatric brain cancers and uses advanced two-photon microscopy to watch immune cells in action—sometimes over weeks in living models.

A passionate advocate for diversity in STEM, Indigenous health, and scientific leadership, Misty has received numerous honours, including the L'Oréal For Women in Science Fellowship, AFR Top 100 Women of Influence, election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), and appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

When she's not engineering immune cells or peering down microscopes, she's helping shape the future of Australian medical research through leadership, strategy, and mentoring the next generation of scientists.

Prof Michael Hickey

Professor Michael Hickey is Director of the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases at Monash University. His expertise lies in the analysis of the actions of leukocytes during inflammatory responses. Michael’s laboratory uses various forms of advanced in vivo imaging, including multiphoton microscopy, to image organs during the inflammatory response. He has used this approach to investigate leukocyte recruitment and behaviour in the inflamed kidney and the actions of regulatory T cells in inflamed skin.

Organising Committee

Michael Kuligowski

University of Sydney

Deborah Barkauskas

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Gabriela Segal

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Holly Ahel

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Scott Mueller

Peter Doherty Institute

Michael Hickey

Monash University

Tri Phan

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Program

The 2026 IMOz Symposium will feature the following sessions:

Innate Immunity
Adaptive Immunity and Cancer
Novel Imaging Techniques in mouse and human

There will be an Intravital Community Dinner on Monday 17th August (only $30 per person) at Il Gambero, 166 Lygon Street, Carlton.

The 2026 IMOz Symposium main sessions will conclude mid Tuesday 18th August. There will be an Intravital Technical Forum held 2-5pm Tuesday 18th August, including lunch and afternoon tea (please note this is a separate ticketed event). This forum will facilitate the sharing of intravital ethics protocols, surgical techniques, and tips.