Dr Priyanka Hastak

Dr. Priyanka Hastak is a postdoctoral scientist specialising in human translational immunology, with a research focus on acute lung injuries, pneumonia, sepsis and immune responses in vaccinated immunocompromised individuals. Her work bridges molecular insights and clinical applications to improve outcomes for critically ill patients.

Dr. Hastak earned her PhD at the University of Technology Sydney, where she conducted cutting-edge research on the genomic surveillance of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in patients with bloodstream infections and sepsis. Through the AusGem (Australian Centre for Genomic Epidemiology and Microbiology) initiative, she utilized long-read sequencing and advanced bioinformatics to elucidate resistance and virulence mechanisms in emerging multidrug-resistant E. coli clones with global significance.

Currently, at the Kirby Institute's Immunovirology and Pathogenesis Program, Dr. Hastak has contributed to a number of studies employing multi-omics approaches. Her expertise spans molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, lung microbiome analysis, spectral flow cytometry, cytokine and chemokine profiling, and targeted RNA analysis. Her work integrates these tools to dissect complex immune profiles in acute lung injuries and related conditions. For her work she has been recently awarded UNSW Triple I award (75,000$) and UNSW Emerging Investigator Award (10,000$).

Dr. Hastak aims to better understand the immune landscape in ICU patients with acute lung injuries to inform clinicians about repurposed or novel immunotherapies that will ultimately help in optimising treatment strategies for these patients.