Pailene is Research Assistant in the Population Health and Immunity Division at WEHI within the Mueller Laboratory, supervised by Dr Rhea Longley. She completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in 2021 in Prof Alan Cowman’s Laboratory where she focused on the characterisation of novel vaccine targets against the blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum. Since joining the Mueller Laboratory, she has been investigating functional antibody responses to P. vivax antigens after naturally acquired infection.