Dr Thiago Maass Steiner is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Neeson laboratory with a primary interest in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

He is currently investigating the immunological mechanisms underlying treatment failure in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma patients treated with glofitamab, a bispecific antibody that activates T cells, through an industry collaboration with Roche. The ultimate goal of his project is to describe reliable biomarkers that can assist clinicians in making informed treatment decisions.

Thiago graduated with a Bachelor of Biological Sciences from the PUC-PR, Brazil in 2016. During his undergraduate Thiago received a scholarship to continue his studies at the University of Melbourne where he undertook several subjects in Immunology and completed an internship in the Heath Laboratory, investigating tissue-resident memory T cells in the liver and their role in malaria defence. In 2018 he completed a Master of Immunology at the University of Sao Paulo studying how metabolic pathways interfere with humoral responses. Thiago’s Master's thesis was recognised with a thesis excellence award.

Thiago completed his PhD in Immunology at the Doherty Institute at The University of Melbourne under the supervision of Professor William Heath and Professor Jose Villadangos in 2023. In his PhD, Thiago investigated a novel targeted vaccination approach, revealed underlying molecular mechanisms that favour induction of immunity in mice and identified important cellular interactions. His study shows how key immune cell interactions can be enhanced by vaccine design, paving a pre-clinical path towards more effective next-generation vaccines.

Thiago’s PhD work was recognised with the Qiagen PhD Achievement Award as well as the CSL Seqirus Best PhD Oration 2022 award. Thiago was also a finalist for the ASI New Investigator Award sponsored by Pfizer in 2020.