VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS AGAINST INFECTIONS TRIGGERING AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

Dr Deborah Burnett,
Scientia Senior Lecturer & Laboratory Head
UNSW Sydney, Australia

RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | April 2026

Dr Deborah Burnett is a Scientia Senior Lecturer and Laboratory Head at UNSW, where she leads a multidisciplinary research program spanning mechanistic immunology and translational vaccinology. Her work focuses on understanding how immune responses can protect against challenging infectious threats, including bacterial infections and infections associated with autoimmune disease.  

After completing her PhD in 2019, Dr Burnett established her first independent group at the Garvan Institute in 2022 and launched her laboratory at UNSW in 2024. Her research, published in major research journals including Science and Immunity, has helped redefine how self-reactive B cells contribute to protective immunity and is now shaping new approaches to prevention and cure of infections linked to autoimmunity. 

Her contributions to research leadership and translation have been recognised through the NSW Premier’s Prize for Early Career Researcher of the Year, Research Australia’s Discovery Award, the Australian L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship, a Young Tall Poppy Award, the Marie Krogh Prize for Women in Science, and selection as an International Union of Immunological Societies Rising Star. Through the Snow Fellowship, Dr Burnett and her team aim to develop new ways to distinguish protective from harmful immune responses, advancing safer vaccines, diagnostics and therapies for vulnerable communities affected by infection-associated autoimmune disease.

Source: Supplied