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Dr Nadia Warner

Dr Nadia Warner

(03) 9342 9344 | Nadia.warner@vidrl.org.au

Position:: Senior Molecular Virologist
Theme(s):: Viral Infectious Diseases, Hepatitis
Discipline(s):: Discovery Research, Indigenous Health, Clinical and health systems research
Unit(s):: Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), Department of Infectious Diseases

Dr Nadia Warner is a senior Molecular Virologist based at VIDRL at the Doherty Institute, expert in basic and translational research, including the technical development of cell-based, molecular and serological assays to analyse viral phenotype, including drug susceptibility, replicative fitness and antibody-mediated neutralisation of infection.

She completed her undergraduate and honours in Microbiology at Monash University (Deans scholars program). After working in public health and research for several years, she undertook her Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Melbourne, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences).

In her research career, she is recognised internationally as expert in Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) antivirals and resistance, pathogenesis of chronic disease, and phenotypic assays, with particular expertise in the HBV surface proteins and antibody response. Mentored by Professor Stephen Locarnini, she has broad experience across industry, clinical research and basic science, her work funded by NHMRC, ACH2, RMH, TIA and various industry projects.

She is a member of the current Australian Centre for Hepatitis Virology (ACHV) executive, member of the newly formed Australian Centre for HIV, HTLV-1 and Hepatitis Virology (ACH4) committee, and an honorary senior fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Melbourne.

Her current research interests include exploring vaccine-mediated protection from HBV infection, and development of new therapeutic approaches for HBV and SARS-CoV-2.

Key Achievements
Publications

Key Achievements
- Nadia has made major contributions toward our understanding of how viruses replicate and evolve in the setting of sub-optimal treatment with nucleoside analogues. She has identified and characterised key resistance and compensatory mutations, and was the first to show selection of dominant negative defective viruses selected during drug therapy for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). Incorporating both clinical data and her phenotypic work, she confirmed that these viruses can alter pathogenesis of disease. HBV is now treated with newer drugs that are not associated with selection of these types of variant.
  
  In her more recent work, Nadia has made discoveries around the role of antibodies in the clearance of HBV infection. By developing new approaches to detect and characterise these previously ‘invisible’ antibodies from infected patients, she has shown that the antibody response to the HBV surface proteins is present, may be associated with disease outcome. She is currently working with clinical researchers to determine whether this association can be used to guide clinical practice.
  
  Her depth of experience in HBV antivirals and resistance has enabled her to apply these skills to SARS-CoV-2. She is currently collaborating with expert medicinal chemists and therapeutics experts to develop a new type of antiviral drug and therapeutic strategy.
Publications

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Full University of Melbourne profile