A/Prof. Payne is a perinatal molecular microbiologist with over two decades of experience in bacterial community profiling. He earned his PhD from the University of Queensland in 2007 and became a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology (FASM) in 2015. He has worked in clinical microbiome research since his postdoctoral position at King's College London, initially focusing on environmental microbiomes during his PhD. Since joining the University of Western Australia in 2011, A/Prof. Payne has focused on preventing infection-mediated preterm birth (PTB). He heads the Clinical Perinatal Research Laboratories and has led two cohort studies to identify vaginal microbial biomarkers for PTB risk. His research includes the role of Ureaplasma parvum in PTB and ways to treat it through animal models and in vitro studies. In 2018, he developed a diagnostic molecular assay, the GLU test, to predict PTB risk based on vaginal microbiology. He partnered with SpeeDx to manufacture the GLU test and led an NHMRC-funded trial exploring early diagnosis and antimicrobial/probiotic treatment for high-risk pregnant women. A/Prof. Payne also leads two NHMRC-funded cohort studies expanding the GLU test for PTB prediction, one involving First Nations women and another examining its potential use in pre-conception care. He is the clinical aim lead on the Wellcome Trust-funded Extreme Heat in Pregnancy Complications (EHPC) Study, investigating the link between heat stress and PTB.