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Speakers
International
Prof Neal Copeland
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology
Proteos Singapore
http://www.imcb.a-star.edu.sg/news_and_events/news_room/6000000358_article.html
http://www.imcb.a-star.edu.sg/research/research_group/NN.html
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Prof. John E. Dick
Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network
Dept of Molecular and Medical Genetics, University of Toronto
Princess Margaret Hospital
Toronto, Ont.
Canada
Dr. Dick received his Ph. D from the University of Manitoba,
working on somatic genetics and ribonucleotide reductase,
followed by post-doctoral training with A Bernstein. In 1986,
he established his own lab in the Department of Genetics at
the Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Dick's research has focused
on understanding normal and leukemic human stem cells. One
of the most important achievements was development of a system
for transplanting normal and leukemic human stem cells into
immune-deficient mice; an assay that has revolutionized the
study of human hematopoiesis. The identification of a human
AML stem cell provided direct evidence for the cancer stem
cell hypothesis. |
Dr. Dick is currently Professor of Molecular and Medical Genetics
at the University of Toronto and since Oct 2002, a Senior Scientist
in the Toronto General Research Institute of the University Health
Network. His work has been recognized by several major prizes including:
the 1997 Michael Smith Award of Excellence from the MRC, the 2000
Robert Nobel Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada,
the 2002 Herman Boerhaave Medal from Leiden University, in 2002
he was appointed as a Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology,
and in 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Canadian Academy of Science. In 2005, he received the William Dameshek
Prize from the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
http://www.uhnresearch.ca/researchers/profile.php?lookup=1468
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dick_(scientist)
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Dong-Er Zhang, Ph.D.
Professor
Division of Oncovirology; Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine
The Scripps Research Institute; La Jolla, CA 92037
Lab website: http://www.scripps.edu/mem/oncovir/zhang/
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Prof. A. Thomas Look
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston
USA
Dr. Look received his M.D. degree and postgraduate training
in Pediatrics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and his fellowship training in Pediatric Oncology
at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
He then accepted a faculty position at St. Jude, and remained
on the faculty for 20 years, ultimately becoming the Chair of
the Experimental Oncology Department at St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital. |
In June of 1999, he joined the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and
Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts as Vice-Chair for Research
in the Department of Pediatric Oncology, and Professor of Pediatrics
at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Look's research on the molecular pathogenesis of leukemia has
resulted in the identification and functional analysis of several
chimeric oncogenes activated by chromosomal translocation, including
the discovery that E2A-HLF transcription factor acts through an
evolutionarily conserved pathway to activate SLUG, a member of the
Snail family of transcription factors, to thus to promote leukemia
cell survival. This work led him to the discovery that SLUG is a
critical regulator of the survival of normal hematopoietic stem
and progenitor cells that have undergone DNA damage. Since moving
to Dana Farber in 1999, his work on the molecular pathogenesis of
human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia has identified seven multistep
mutational pathways, including the discovery that NOTCH1 receptors
are mutationally activated in the majority of patients with this
disease.
His recent work led to the first transgenic model of leukemia in
the zebrafish, paving the way for chemical and genome-wide genetic
modifier screens in a vertebrate disease model.
Dr. Look has authored over 300 articles and book chapters, is the
editor of several textbooks and scientific journals, and has received
several national and international awards for his research. He was
elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1987
and Association of American Physicians in 2005.
http://research.dfci.harvard.edu/looklab/
http://physicians.dana-farber.org/directory/profile.asp
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Professor Donald
Small Donald Small, M.D., Ph.D.
Short Bio
Don Small received his undergraduate, M.D. and Ph.D degrees
from the Johns Hopkins University. His Ph.D. research was
conducted with Bert Vogelstein and his PDF research with Tom
Kelly. He trained in pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology
at Johns Hopkins and joined the faculty in 1990 where he is
the Kyle Haydock Professor of Oncology with joint appointments
in Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine. |
His laboratory was the first to clone the human FLT3 gene. They
investigated its role in leukemia and were the first to discover
drugs able to inhibit the tyrosine kinase activity of FLT3. His
laboratory showed that this class of drugs would preferentially
kill leukemic cell lines and primary AML samples expressing mutant
FLT3. They developed a high-throughput cell-based in vitro assay
that enabled them to screen a large library of kinase inhibitors
and find several with great potency and selectivity against FLT3.
His group led the clinical trials investigating the use of one of
these drugs, CEP-701, in adult relapsed and refractory FLT3 mutant
AML, first as monotherapy and more recently as a randomized trial
in combination with chemotherapy.
http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/experts/_doctor.cfm?doctorid=72&action=1
Dr. Charles Mullighan
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, USA
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/sjcr-mgs030707.php
National
Professor Leonie K Ashman
Faculty of Health
University of Newcastle
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/school/biomedical-science/staff/LeonieAshman.html
Professor Kenneth Bradstock
Westmead Hospital
The University of Sydney
Sydney, Australia
http://www.medfac.usyd.edu.au/people/academics/profiles/kenb.php
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Associate Prof Devinder S Gill
Director of Clinical Haematology
Chair Cancer Collaborative Group -PAH
Division of Cancer Services
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Brisbane,
Australia
http://www.pafoundation.org.au/research_item.aspx?id=17&frmPage=research
Dr Devinder Gill, is Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Qld and an Adjunct Principal Research Fellow of the Diamantina Institute. He is the Director of Clinical Haematology, Chair of Cancer Collaborative Group at Princess Alexandra Hospital and also the Chair of the Aggressive and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group (ALLG). He was also the co-founding Chair of the New Direction in Leukaemia Research Meeting. Dr Gill has extensive experience in translational research and clinical trials. He has consistently published in leading Haematology journals on topics concerning haematological malignancy including Aggressive Lymphoma, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Post Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorders (PTLD), and Myeloma. He served as a panel member of the ACN-sponsored NHMRC practice guidelines on diagnosis and management of PTLD.
Dr Gill has national and international collaboration. He is a Principal Investigator for ALLG on 3 multi-centre international studies on the treatment of aggressive lymphoma, including being a member of the MInT Study Group which was the first Phase III randomised study to show the superiority of Rituximab (Mabthera) when added to conventional CHOP-like chemotherapy in patients age <60 years with aggressive lymphoma.
His laboratory research includes biology of chronic lymphocytic leukemia including apoptosis and microarrays to predict clinical outcome and more recently to establish CLL cell lines and NOD-SCID mouse models. |
Prof. David Huang
Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division
The Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute of Medical Research
http://www.wehi.edu.au/facweb/indexresearch.php?id=6
Prof. Tim Hughes,
Institute of medical and veterinary science,
Adelaide, South Australia
http://www.imvs.sa.gov.au/haematology/research/Melissa_White_Leukaemia_Research_Lab
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Dr. Evan Ingley
Western Australian Institute for Medical Research
PERTH WA
AUSTRALIA
http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au/research/cellsig.html
Dr Evan Ingley heads the Cell Signalling Group, which has an interest in understanding the signalling networks of both normal and diseased cells. He completed his PhD at The Australian National University working on the interaction between the cytokine Interleukin-5 (IL-5) and its receptor. For his postdoctoral studies he move to Switzerland at the Friedrich Miescher Institute, working on the new oncogene Akt/PKB, detailing aspects of its regulation through protein-protein as well as protein-lipid interactions. On returning to Australia Evan began working in the at the WA Institute for Medical Research bringing his expertise on protein-protein interactions involved in signal transduction to the labs interest in red blood cell development and lineage determination. After the labs discovery of the importance of Lyn in erythropoiesis he began establishing a focus on the signalling pathways of this molecule and set up the Cell Signalling Group.
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A/Prof Ricky W. Johnstone
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre,
East Melbourne VIC. Australia
http://www.petermac-research.org.au/default.php?doc_id=31&title=Gene%20Regulation
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Prof. Richard Lock
Children's Cancer Institute Australia,
Sydney
Leukaemia Biology Program
http://www.ccia.org.au
I was awarded my PhD in 1987 by the University of London,
England, after completing my research at the Imperial Cancer
Research Fund Laboratories into mechanisms of tumour cell
resistance to DNA topoisomerase II inhibitors. My postdoctoral
research into mechanisms of chemotherapeutic drug-induced
cell cycle arrest and apoptosis was carried out initially
at the University of Florida, USA, and subsequently at the
University of Louisville, Kentucky. I established an independent
research program at the University of Louisville, was appointed
onto the Faculty of the Department of Medicine in 1991, and
was awarded tenure in 1997. I was recruited to Children's
Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research in 1998 to
establish the Leukaemia Biology Program. The principal focus
of the Program is in the development of orthotopic xenograft
models of paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most
common childhood malignancy, to study the biology and treatment
of the disease.
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A/Prof Grant McArthur
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre,
East Melbourne VIC.
http://www.petermac-research.org.au/default.php?doc_id=54&title=Molecular+Oncology
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Dr. Stephen Nutt
The Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute of Medical Research
http://www.wehi.edu.au/facweb/indexresearch.php?id=34
Dr Nutt completed his PhD research at the Research Institute
of Molecular Pathology, Vienna Austria, where identified the
key role played by Pax5 in B cell lineage commitment. In 2001,
following post-doctoral training at the University of Cambridge,
he established his own laboratory at the Walter and Eliza
Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne as the inaugural
Metcalf Fellow. In 2006 he was appointed a Pfizer Australia
Research Fellow.
Dr Nutt's research focuses on understanding how a handful
of master regulatory transcription factors control many aspects
of hematopoiesis, including lineage commitment and cell differentiation
decisions. His research uses mouse genetic models and cell
culture systems. Recent work from the laboratory has established
the important functions of the Ets factor PU.1 at multiple
points in adult hematopoiesis and in suppressing myeloid leukemia.
Whereas other studies have highlighted the essential function
of the transcriptional repressor Blimp-1 in controlling plasma
cell differentiation and T cell homeostasis. |
Professor Rasko is a Haematologist who directs Cell and Molecular
Therapies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and heads the Gene and
Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine
& Cell Biology, University of Sydney. His was the first formal
appointment in clinical gene therapy in Australia.
Professor Rasko's research has been successful in uncovering new
mechanisms of leukemia, understanding blood hormones, and clinical
trials of new biological therapies for cancer and bleeding disorders.
In 2004 he led a team that identified the gene for Hartnup Disease
reported in Nature Genetics. Most recently he developed a milestone
in gene therapy for haemophilia with collaborators in the USA, published
in Nature Medicine papers. He serves on the Gene Technology Technical
Advisory Committee, editorial boards and grant review panels. He
has authored almost 100 publications and co-edited a book published
by Cambridge University Press on the ethics of inheritable genetic
modification.
Professor Hamish Scott did his PhD (1992) and first post-doc at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the University of Adelaide. During these 7 years he led the discovery of 3 human disease genes. He subsequently moved (1995) to the Division of Medical Genetics at the University of Geneva Medical School in Switzerland, accepting a faculty position in 1997, to work on the genetics and genomics of diseases that mapped to human chromosome 21, and Down syndrome. He led international collaborations in the positional cloning of human genes causing deafness (TMPRSS3) and autoimmunity (AIRE) and began to focus on the role of transcription factors (TFs) and transcriptional regulation in disease. Relocating to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne in 2000, his laboratory has identified 2 additional deafness genes (TMPRSS1 &5) and characterized the role of Dnmt3L in epigenetic genomic reprogramming. He has also identified novel mechanisms of RUNX1 mutations in familial predisposition to leukaemia. His laboratory focuses on the application of genetic and genomic technologies to the study of transcriptional mechanisms and molecular pathogenesis in autoimmunity and haematological malignancies. From January 2008 he will be Deputy Head of the Division of Molecular Pathology at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS), a member of the Hanson Institute and is an Affiliate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide
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