Professor Kate Schroder heads the Inflammasome Laboratory at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB, UQ), as an NHMRC RD Wright Fellow. She is also the Director of the IMB Centre for Inflammation and Disease Research. Kate’s graduate (PhD 2005) and postgraduate studies defined novel macrophage activation mechanisms and surprising inter-species divergence in macrophage inflammatory programs. As an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow in Switzerland, Kate then trained with Prof Jürg Tschopp, a pioneer in the inflammasome and cell death fields. Upon returning to Australia, Kate established the Inflammasome Lab in 2013. Kate’s laboratory is defining mechanisms of inflammasome signalling, antimicrobial defence and inflammatory disease. Kate’s lab co-invented inflammasome inhibitors entering Phase 2 clinical trials as anti-inflammatory drug candidates, under commercialisation by UQ start-up company, Inflazome, for which Kate served on the Scientific Advisory Board. Inflazome recently sold to pharmaceutical giant Roche for $620M plus milestones, in the largest ever deal for Australian academic intellectual property. Kate has published >100 articles in top journals, and was recently honoured with the 2020 Australian Academy of Science Nancy Millis Medal.