The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Professor Scott Mueller

Professor Scott Mueller

+61 413 211 955 | smue@unimelb.edu.au

Position:
Laboratory Head
Theme(s):
Immunology, Bacterial and Parasitic Infections
Discipline(s):
Discovery Research
Unit(s):
Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI)
Lab Group(s):
Mueller Group

Scott is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and a Dame Kate Campbell Fellow, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, and The University of Melbourne. He completed his PhD at The University of Melbourne with Frank Carbone, performed postdoctoral training in the USA at Emory University with Dr Rafi Ahmed and then at the National Institutes of Health with Dr Ronald Germain before starting his laboratory in 2010. Scott led the establishment of an advanced microscopy facility in the Doherty and procured and setup several multi-photon imaging systems, including Australia’s first 3-photon microscope. 

  • Key Achievements
    • Scott is internationally recognised for research using animal models and advanced intravital microscopy techniques to interrogate cell dynamics and cell-cell interactions in vivo from the perspective of the immune cells (lymphocytes, dendritic cells) and cross-talk with the tissue microenvironment (nerves and structural cells) to achieve a detailed understanding of these processes from the cell to the tissue level. He publishes in the leading journals, including Nature, Science, Nature Immunology, Immunity and PNAS. Current research in the laboratory is focused on defining cross-talk between sympathetic nerves and immune responses. We are using contemporary neuroscience tools to study fundamental neuroimmune interactions. We are also developing new open-source image analysis software tools to improve unbiased quantitative analysis of cell behaviours from live imaging data.

    Publications
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    Projects
    • Stromal cell niches that direct anti-viral immune responses

      The lymphoid tissues (spleen and lymph nodes) are constructed of a complex microarchitecture that is supported by networks of endothelial and mesenchymal stromal cells. Our work has redefined understanding of the stromal cell architecture in the spleen and revealed dynamic responses by mesenchymal cells that are crucial to support adaptive immune responses. We are currently investigating how stromal cell niches direct early immune responses and support healthy immune cells during persisting infections in order to improve immunotherapy of chronic infections.

    • Designing new software approaches to dissect immune responses in vivo

      We have developed a world-leading intravital 3-photon microscope to investigate how immune cells behave in vivo. The technique generates 4D time lapse data (3D in space, 1D in time), which enables us to visualise dense 3D tissue environments and the migratory behaviour of individual immune cells. We have also developed and patented a novel method that allows us to track individual immune cells in the eyes of living humans. However, quantitative analysis of immune cell dynamics and phenotypes is time consuming and limited by a lack of simple software options for complex, time-lapse images. We are developing novel software approaches to improve the analysis of immune cell behaviours, and their interactions with other cells and structures, in mouse and human tissues.

    Research Groups
    • Mueller Group

      Research in the Mueller laboratory is focused on dissecting the fundamental cellular processes involved in immune and neuro-immune responses to viruses and cancer in order to identify new targets for vaccines and novel therapeutics. We use advanced imaging and image analysis, single cell and spatial transcriptomics, transgenic mice, CRISPR editing and neuroscience tools to address these crucial knowledge gaps.


      Lab Team

      Mueller Group

      • Research Officer
      • Dr Yannick Alexandre
        Postdoctoral Researcher
      • Dr Harry Horsnell
        Postdoctoral Researcher
      • Dr Dominik Schienstock
        Postdoctoral Researcher
      • Dr Mengliang Wu
        PostdoctoralResearcher
      • Dr Mitchell Ringuet
        Postdoctoral Researcher
      • Melanie Damtsis
        Research Assistant
      • Kirthana Senthil
        PhD Candidate
      • Alicia Weier
        PhD Candidate
      • Amir Hossain
        PhD Candidate
      • Zoë Fransos
        Masters Student
    Student Projects

Full University of Melbourne profile