Prof. Alex Loukas was awarded a BSc Hons in 1990 and a PhD in 1995 from the University of Queensland. He has worked on the secretomes of parasitic helminths and their utility as vaccines, diagnostics and immunotherapeutics for most of his career. Alex conducted postdoctoral work at The University of Edinburgh and was an Assistant Research Professor at George Washington University before relocating back to Australia. In 2010 Alex relocated his group from Queensland Institute of Medical Research to James Cook University (JCU) in Cairns, QLD, where he is currently a Distinguished Professor and co-founder and acting CEO of Macrobiome Therapeutics. Alex has published more than 350 peer reviewed articles, holds numerous awards, international fellowships, and patents for helminth vaccines, diagnostics and immunotherapeutics, and has raised more than $100M in collaborative grant funding.