Dr Stephen Blake is an established cancer immunology researcher with significant expertise in the study of immunotherapy, systems immunology, and host–microbiome interactions in cancer. He is an academic affiliate of the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University and a senior researcher within the Precision Cancer Medicine program at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in Adelaide, Australia.

Dr Blake’s research program is focused on understanding how immune responses to cancer therapies are shaped not only by tumour and host factors, but also by the gut microbiota, with the overarching goal of improving therapeutic efficacy while minimising immune-related toxicity. His work sits at the interface of basic immunology and translational cancer research, addressing clinically relevant questions that inform the next generation of precision oncology strategies and develop strategies to minimise toxicity and improve recovery from treatment.

He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2009, investigating immune signalling pathways in normal and malignant cells, and subsequently undertook postdoctoral appointments at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. During this period, Dr Blake built technical depth in experimental immunology while establishing the collaborative networks that now underpin his independent research profile. Since joining SAHMRI, he has progressed from postdoctoral researcher to senior research fellow, taking increasing responsibility for conceptual leadership, project direction, and collaborative coordination.

Dr Blake has authored >45 publications, many in top immunology and cancer journals including Nature, Nature Reviews Immunology, Cancer Discovery, and Cancer research. His publications have been cited over 4800 times (Google Scholar) and include influential review and primary research articles that have shaped current understanding of immune–microbiome interactions and lead policy change in the administration of immunotherapies. He is also a co-inventor on US patent (17/779,908) that describes microbiome-based approaches to reduce immune agonist toxicity.

As a senior research fellow, Dr Blake has secured numerous nationally competitive grants as CI from funding bodies including NHMRC, MRFF, Tour de Cure and the Leukemia Foundation that have supported preclinical and translational studies to evaluate projects investigating the microbiota role in toxicity and efficacy of cancer treatments, development of novel bacterial based cancer therapies and mRNA-based cancer vaccines therapies for colorectal cancer. He has also attracted commercial research funding to undertake research partnerships with several biotechnology companies.

Dr Blake has an established national and international research profile. He has a strong and consistent record of presenting at the Australian Society for Immunology (ASI) Annual Scientific Meeting and is a regularly invited speaker at national and conferences, symposia, and specialist workshops. His repeated invitations to speak reflect recognition of his expertise and leadership in cancer immunology and microbiome research. He is an active peer reviewer for international journals and national and international funding bodies. In addition to direct research outputs, Dr Blake demonstrates leadership through mentoring and supervision of early-career researchers and students, contributing to the development of technical skills, experimental design, and scientific independence within his teams.

Key Research Interests

- Cancer Immunotherapy: Understanding mechanisms of anti-tumour immune responses and improving therapeutic efficacy.

- Immune–Microbiome Interactions: Investigating how the gut microbiota influences treatment response, toxicity, and recovery from treatment.

- Synthetic biology: Developing novel immune-modulating therapies for delivery via bacterial or mRNA-based vectors as new cancer treatments.

- Systems Immunology: Integrating multi-level immune, microbial, and tumour data to inform next-generation cancer therapies.

Dr Blake’s future research vision is to establish a competitive program integrating immunology, microbiome-host interactions and synthetic biology to that will enhance treatment outcomes and improve patient recovery from treatment.