Awards Co-Chairs, Eleanor Fish (L) and Jennifer Towne (R), present Di Yu with a Milstein Young Investigator Award.

Di Yu
Senior Research Fellow

Head of Laboratory for Molecular Immunomodulation
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Department of Medicine (joint)
Monash University
Australia

Dr. Yu came to Australia in 2003 to study Immunology with Prof. Carola Vinuesa and Chris Goodnow in the Australian National University. He was awarded Ph.D. in 2007 and subsequently carried out the postdoctoral training with Prof. Charles Mackay at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, where he continued the research on the differentiation and function of follicular helper T cells and also initiated new direction of translational research including immunotherapy. In 2011, he was selected as Monash Fellow to establish his own research group of Molecular Immunomodulation in Monash University. He will return to the Australian National University in 2017 to be appointed as A/Prof and lead the lab of T-cell Immune Mechanism, Monitoring and Modulation (TIM3).

Dr. Yu and his team are investigating the molecular mechanisms of T cells that regulate the competence and the balance of immune responses, with the aim to design new strategies to modulate the immune system to treat autoimmune disease, infection and cancer. His research is published in journals including Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine and Immunity. He is a recipient of the New Investigator Award from the Australasian Society for Immunology, and the International Research Award from the Australian Society for Medical Research, and the Excellence Award from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.