Her focus is on developing practical and affordable vaccines and treatments for complex diseases like malaria and cancer. She has also pioneered the use of synthetic size-defined non-inflammatory nanoparticles in vaccines. 

Magdalena has forged a stellar career in medical and health research. She came to Australia from Oxford University in the UK, where she showed new ways in which malaria parasites can trick the human immune system.  More recently, her insights have been used to help understand cancer progression across multiple human clinical trials, particularly leukemia and ovarian cancer.

Her nanoparticle studies also opened the door to new nanotechnology applications to prevent allergic airways disease. She has more than 50 patents in 10 patent families, which have supported the formation of biotechnology companies.

Magdalena has published more than 150 peer-reviewed full-length papers, including in leading journals such as Lancet, Nature, Science, Immunity, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine and Nature Communications among others, and has secured funding from national and international grant bodies, as well as charitable and commercial funding.