Emeritus Professor Francis Carbone

+61 3 8344 9923 | fcarbone@unimelb.edu.au

Position:: Emeritus Professor
Theme(s):: Immunology, Viral Infectious Diseases, Bacterial and Parasitic Infections
Discipline(s):: Discovery Research
Unit(s):: The University of Melbourne, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI)

I hold a Bachelor degree and PhD in biochemistry from the University of Melbourne. My post-doctoral training was in immunology under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Bevan at the Scripps Research Institute in California where I also held appointments as a Senior Research Associated and Assistant Professor. I returned to Australia as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow in 1990 to the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Monash University. After holding Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor positions at that university, I relocated to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne at the end of 1999. At the University of Melbourne I was made Professor in 2005 and held the position of NHMRC Australia Fellow from 2010 to 2015 and were I am currently a Professorial Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Key Achievements

Key Achievements
- My laboratory’s research focuses on infection and immunity. We carried out pioneering investigations that established an interconnection between dendritic cells and a key antigen presentation mechanism, called cross-presentation, involved in the development of cytotoxic T cell immunity and tolerance. We are actively involved in investigations on defining the fundamental nature of protective immunity to infection, especially the means by which T cells control localized virus replication. We were the first to demonstrate that T cells localised to peripheral tissues can exist as a stand-alone persisting population, capable of providing superior immune protection at body surfaces. I am a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a past Australia Fellow of the NHMRC.

Full University of Melbourne profile