Dr. Matthew Snelson is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and a National Heart
Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Hypertension Research Laboratory at Monash University. His research utilizes cell culture, preclinical animal studies and diet intervention trials to elucidate the role of diet in altering disease states via modulation of the gut microbiota. He completed his PhD at Monash University in 2019, investigating the effects of a processed diet on gut homeostasis and the contribution that these changes make to the development of diabetic kidney disease. His current research focus investigates the role of diet, the gut microbiota, and intestinal permeability in hypertension and other chronic diseases.
Dr. Kim Maree O’Sullivan is the head of the Translational Kidney Therapies Group within the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases based at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She has an international and national reputation in ANCA vasculitis studies. Her main research area is investigating the pro-inflammatory role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in MPO-ANCA vasculitis with a particular focus on potential therapeutics tto revent NET formation and ameliorate disease without compromising host
defense. Kim has a great interest in the role of the gut microbiome and how it interacts with the immune system, in particular the power it has to modulate immune responses (including activation of neutrophils and NETs). Kim has obtained competitive funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (2x NHMRC Ideas Grant as CIA and CIB), a Medical Research Future Fund grant (MRFF, as a CI), and industry funding to find new therapeutics for NET-driven pathology. Kim is a member of the Australian Society of Immunology, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology, and the American Association of Immunology.
