Professor Coppel has made original and important contributions in the study of malaria, primary biliary cirrhosis, tuberculosis and bioinformatics. His areas of molecular study include antigen discovery for malaria vaccines, identification of autoantigens to study the autoimmune response and disease etiology, key proteins involved in cell wall synthesis of mycobacteria and development of advanced genomic databases. This has resulted in marketed diagnostics and the preclinical development of malaria vaccines and novel antibiotics for eventual human trial. He has a senior leadership role in building research excellence and provides high-level strategic advice to major institutions nationally and internationally.