Professor Phil Sutton is head of Mucosal Immunology in the Infection and Immunity Theme of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. He completed a PhD in Immunology (1991) at Manchester University, before moving to Australia to research organ transplantation at the Australian National University. Following a spell at Institut Pasteur in France, he returned to Australia in 1996, as project leader on a joint academia/industry Helicobacter pylori vaccine venture (UNSW). In 2001 he entered industry, as Immunology group leader in the R&D division of CSL Limited, researching vaccine adjuvants. In 2003, Phil partially reversed this industrial trend, joining the University of Melbourne to establish a research group, which he moved to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in 2012. His primary interests lie in the study of how the host protects itself from bacterial-driven inflammation, particularly in the gut and in cystic fibrosis, and he has a major focus on vaccine development. For over 20 years he has studied the pathogenesis of H. pylori as well as attempted to make an effective vaccine against this important pathogen.