Oxford Nanopore at ASM National Meeting 2026

As a microbial ecologist and physiologist, Prof. Phil B. Pope seeks to deconvolute complex microbiomes that are integral to gut function, health and nutrition of animals. Phil has a BSc from Griffith University (Queensland, Australia) majoring in physical mathematics, with honours in environmental microbiology (2003);a PhD in metagenomics from Griffith University (2007);and postdoc experience at CSIRO with Professor Mark Morrison (2007–10). Phil moved to Europe in 2010 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Incoming fellow and started the Microbial Ecology and Meta-Omics (MEMO) group with an ERC starting grant in 2014. Phil’s European research portfolio included CI roles for a Novo Nordisk Foundation Ascending fellowship 'SuPAcow,' coordination of an ERA-Net project 'ImprovAFish' and leadership roles in two Horizon 2020 projects (HoloRuminant and 3D’omics) and a Marie Curie Doctoral Network (HoloGen) that are focused on animal–microbiome interactions. In 2024, Phil relocated to the Queensland University of Technology and is a group leader at the Centre for Microbiome Research. Phil was recently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship 'HoliCow', which aims to expand our fundamental understanding of the rumen microbiome by coupling omics technologies with high throughput cultivation.

Jane is a computational microbiologist, with extensive experience in development of novel methods and software for typing bacterial pathogens. Jane undertook her PhD in bacterial genomics, focusing on the mobile elements that are responsible for disseminating antimicrobial resistance. She is currently a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow.

Her current research primarily focuses on hospital-associated antimicrobial resistant pathogens. She develops genomic workflows to help infection prevention and control teams better understand and interrupt the spread of these pathogens. She has an emphasis on tracking plasmid transmission between patients and the hospital environment. Additionally, she leads the bioinformatics development of the AMRrules project, which aims to standardize interpretation of resistance genotypes by creating open-source rulesets that predict phenotypic resistance across diverse pathogens.

Steven is a Field Applications Scientist at Oxford Nanopore Technologies and the microbiology subject matter expert for Australia and New Zealand. He supports laboratories in implementing nanopore sequencing technologies for rapid, high‑resolution genomic analysis. Steven has a background in microbial genomics, with five years of postdoctoral research experience prior to joining Nanopore.