NATIONAL SPEAKER
A/Prof Kelly Wyres
Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash University, VIC
Kelly Wyres is a Research Group Leader and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases, where they co-lead the Infectious Diseases Genomics research program. Their research applies comparative genomics and metabolic modelling to study the diversity of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a major cause of drug-resistant hospital infections. They focus on surface antigens—key targets for vaccines and phage therapies—and the evolution of high-risk K. pneumoniae clones linked to drug resistance and virulence.
They are a co-developer of widely used genomic tools, including Kaptive and Kaptive Web (for surface polysaccharide typing), Kleborate (for comprehensive genotyping), and Bactabolize (for rapid strain-specific metabolic modelling). These tools support global research and public health efforts. They also co-lead KlebNET-GSP, an international platform for harmonised genomic surveillance of Klebsiella, and chair its Epidemiology Working Group to develop a genomically informed clone risk framework.
Previously, they spent 2.5 years at IBM Research – Australia, where they helped establish and lead the Genomics Team, contributing to global collaborations on bacterial genomics, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They hold a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where they studied Streptococcus pneumoniae evolution, penicillin resistance, and capsule switching relevant to vaccine development.