Dr Rubaiyea Farrukee completed a Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) at Monash University, including Honours in 2013. Dr Farrukee subsequently undertook a PhD in 2016 at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, studying the fitness of antiviral resistant influenza viruses. After completion of the PhD, Dr Farrukee started working in the Reading/Brooks laboratory as a Roche Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She has since been independently funded through the Global Virus Network Fellowship and the Cummings Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics foundation grants. Her project is focussed on identifying novel antiviral host factors for respiratory pathogens, including highly pathogenic avian influenza, human respiratory syncytial virus and SARS-COV-2.