The membership of the ACS may elect additional Council members to advise the executive council and provide adequate representation of the membership, for example in terms of cytometry field (research, clinical, industrial) or geographical area (Australia, New Zealand). Additional Council members shall serve until the next Annual General Meeting.
Current Advisory Council:
Robert Salomon
Rob Salomon is an experienced cytometerist and technical scientist that is motivated to drive the advancement of science through the appropriate use of technology. This involves both the effective utilization of current technology as well as the development and/or application of novel technologies. Rob is a scientifically trained technologist that has driven large projects and built effective teams to leverage cutting-edge technologies for the advancement of science. He is inspired to:
- Advance Science
- Progress the understanding of disease and biological processes
- Help researchers achieve their goals
- Work within as well as lead cohesive teams where highly skilled specialists can work in a collaborative manner to achieve outcomes that would not be possible individually
- Leverage technological solutions to help answer big questions
- Identify synergies between previously disparate technologies to provide seamless solutions to simplify complex processes
Since 2015, Rob has been working to advance the field of Genomic Cytometry. This is evidenced by his driving role in the design, planning and implementation of the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics. Rob, along with the team he built and with support from the Garvan Institute, successfully conceived, funded and built the centre. The centre is the only one of its kind in Australia and is unique in the world in that it brings the previous disparate modalities of cytometry, microfluidics, genomics and bioinformatics under the one roof. Most recently, Rob has been Working at the University of Technology Sydney with the Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) and the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia (CCIA) where he lead the technology design for the recently announced ACRF Child Canner Liquid Biopsy Program.
Rob has been involved with the ACS since beginning in cytometry in 2004. He has filled a number of positions with the ACS including, Website committee member, Treasurer and is currently the ACS Industry and Innovation liaison member. In his role with ACS he is passionate about bringing new technologies and approaches to the field of Cytometry and is looking to provide support for innovation and to improve connections between industry and academia.
Michael Thompson
Michael Thomson has been an ACS member for over 10 years and has 15 years Cytometry Core Lab experience. As a core manager he is passionate about utilising Shared Resources to support research goals, methodology development and clinical outcomes. Michael presently manages the Cytometry core at MHTP, a busy translational research core laboratory that has given him expertise in cytometry matters including panel design, instrumentation chacterisation, biosafety, project presentation, cytometry education, budgeting, communication and staff management.
Michael is a graduate of the ISAC Shared Resources Emerging Leader Program (2019) and a current member of the ISAC SRL Outreach Task Force which is responsible for maintaining and expanding the communication and delivery of Shared Resource Laboratory content to the ISAC membership.
Michael has been active in the ACS, and was a member of the Local Organising Committee for the 2012 2019 and 2022 Melbourne meetings, where he was Meeting Co-Chair. He acted as ACS Executive Secretary from 2021-22 and continues involvement in an advisory role to Council. He has presented and moderated on SRL workshops and tutorials at both ISAC and ACS meetings on various topics, including the successful 2017 joint ACS meeting, Cyto Asia.
David Sester
Dave is Head of Cytometry within the Hugh Green Cytometry Centre (HGCC), and Senior Staff Scientist at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research (MIMR), leading a team of four enthusiastic flow cytometrists. Based at the MIMR, located at the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), the HGCC were early adopters of the Cytek Aurora and are leaders in full spectrum flow cytometry. We primarily support internal users from the MIMR and VUW. In addition, the HGCC has numerous external relationships including collaborations with other Universities and contract research agreements with a number of local, national and international commercial clients.
In a former life, Dave was a research scientist with a focus on mechanisms of innate immunity and signal transduction, who’s exposure to flow cytometry commenced in 1995 on a BD FACSCalibur. With 40+ publications (5000+ citations, h index 30), he continues to be involved with research projects, assisting researchers with their flow cytometry needs particularly in relation to high-dimensional panel design, cell sorting strategies and imaging cytometry applications. Since switching to the core facility world, Dave has continued his passion for education, focusing both on fundamentals and best practise, as to facilitate and enable researchers to become better cytometrists.
Teresa Marzulli
Teresa Marzulli is a Senior Hospital Scientist at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia , where she manages both the Haematology laboratory as well as its Flow Cytometry service. The latter laboratory mainly focuses on Haematological malignancies as well as Measurable Residual Disease in Paediatric patients. She has been instrumental in the development of Flow Cytometry services in both private and public sectors and she is quite passionate about standardisation, ongoing competency, continuing education, as well as process, analytical and clinical improvement in Flow Cytometry. Her flow cytometry experience spans over 10 years and her passion is predominately in childhood leukaemia for which she has presented at numerous conferences and workshops. She has recently joined the ACS committee and is looking forward to contributing to promoting the advancement of clinical flow cytometry.
Tina Pham
Tina Pham is a Senior Scientist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia, where she manages the Special Haematology laboratory which includes Flow Cytometry and Cellular Therapy. Her flow cytometry experience spans over 10 years. She is the Vic Branch chair of the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists (AIMS), board director of the Australian Council for Certification of Medical Scientific Workforce (CMLS) and guest lectures at RMIT. She is passionate about education for future medical scientists in flow and cell therapy. She has been instrumental in co-chairing the ACS 2022 conference and took a leading role in serving the clinical ACS membership within the program. She is looking forward to contributing to promoting the advancement of clinical flow cytometry.