Prof. Rajiv Khanna

Prof. Rajiv Khanna obtained his doctorate degree from India and undertook his post-doctoral training at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), Brisbane Australia. He is currently appointed as the Coordinator of the QIMR Centre for Immunotherapy and Vaccine Development and also holds Senior Principal Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. He has extensive expertise in clinical trial design, vaccine design and cancer immunology. The major goals of his research group are to obtain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which an immune response to viruses and human cancers may be generated, augmented and applied to control these diseases. Over the last few years, his group has successfully translated his research towards the development of novel immune-based therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients and transplant recipients with viral complications.

Previously, Prof. Khanna has been appointed as a consultant to CSL Ltd for the development of glandular fever vaccine. He has also acted as a consultant to Cellestis Ltd and Oxford Immunotech (UK) for the development of novel diagnostic kits for predicting infectious complications in transplant patients. Currently, he is collaborating with international biopharmaceutical organizations to develop a prophylactic vaccine against human cytomegalovirus which is associated with glioblastoma and birth defects in new born babies.