Dr Leon Caly

Dr Leon Caly is Head of Translational Diagnostics and Deputy Head of the National High Security Quarantine Laboratories (BSL-4) at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), part of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor (Research) in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash University, Clayton. 

Dr Caly has established a comprehensive whole-genome sequencing platform at VIDRL to support ongoing surveillance and reporting of SARS-CoV-2 and mpox strains for the Victorian state government. He has also provided sequencing support to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) for SARS-CoV-2, dengue, and Zika virus surveillance. His current research interests include the development and optimization of targeted viral sequencing methodologies, with a focus on their application in wastewater surveillance programs.