A/ Prof. Istivan is an academic in the School of Science at RMIT University. She has a PhD in molecular microbiology and MSc in microbial genetics. Her research in microbial colonisation and virulence, focuses on the oral bacterium Campylobacter concisus, in addition to developing and applying novel peptide therapeutics to fight antimicrobial resistance and cancer. She has authored peer reviewed book chapters, scientific reviews and more than 40 research papers in these fields. Her recent research on drug delivery systems is protected by a patent on controlled release biomaterials for the delivery of therapeutics which is of interest to pharmaceutical companies.