Jeremy Wiyana is currently undertaking a PhD in the University of Melbourne, through the Lung Disease Group headed by Dr Rhiannon Werder at MCRI. His work focuses on using human pluripotent stem cells, in particular induced pluripotent stem cells, to model the airway and alveolar epithelium of the lungs against infection. A key pathogen of interest is Streptoccocus pyogenes, which is responsible for severe infections such as pneumonia when it reaches the alveolar region.