The Centenary Institute is an independent leader in medical research seeking improved treatments and cures for cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases.
They are working to discover new prevention, early diagnosis and treatment options to enable each generation to live longer, healthier lives than the one before. Centenary’s affiliation with the RPA Hospital and the University of Sydney means that their discoveries can be quickly applied to the fight against disease in the clinic.
By blocking a widespread enzyme, Centenary researchers have shown they can slow down the movement of cells and potentially stop tumours from spreading and growing.
Using a new super-resolution microscope they’ve been able to see single molecules of the enzyme at work in a liver cancer cell line. Then they’ve used confocal microscopes to see how disrupting the enzyme slows the cells down in living cancer cells.
The enzyme is DPP9 (dipeptidyl peptidase 9) which the researchers at the Centenary Institute and the Sydney Medical School were first to discover and clone, in 1999. Ever since they’ve been studying what it does, with a view to its possible use as a cancer drug target.
“It was exciting to be able to watch the enzyme at work and then block DPP9, and see the cells slow down,” says A/Prof Mark Gorrell from Centenary’s Molecular Hepatology unit. “This gives us our clearest evidence yet that this enzyme will be a good cancer drug target.”
$25,000 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize goes to young Brisbane researcher
Today one of Australia’s most creative young medical researchers has won a $25,000 prize to help him develop his research into how a common, short piece of DNA affects the operation of the brain.
A/Prof Geoff Faulkner of the Mater Research Institute in Brisbane thinks the differences in the way each human brain functions could be determined by a segment of mobile DNA, known as L1, which has the capacity to insert itself into the genome of individual brain cells. His work may have consequences for how memories form, for brain disorders such as schizophrenia, and even spills over into diseases such as haemophilia, muscular dystrophy and some forms of cancer.
The winner of the $25,000 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize will be announced on Tuesday 11 November during a lunchtime reception at UBS in Sydney.
“It’s a small step towards recognising that the most creative medical research is usually done by researchers early in their career—at a time when it’s hardest for them to secure funding,” says Centenary Executive Director, Professor Mathew Vadas AO.
The three finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
How a piece of mobile DNA could change your mind
A/Prof Geoff Faulkner of the Mater Research Institute in Brisbane thinks the differences in the way each human brain functions could be determined by a segment of mobile DNA known as L1.
L1 has the capacity to insert itself into the genome of individual brain cells. Just how many L1 sequences are inserted and where they occur is unique to each brain cell and may determine how it operates. Showing the impact of this is the subject of Geoff’s Lawrence Creative Prize proposal. If he’s right, it could have significant consequences for our understanding of memory and of brain disorders such as schizophrenia.
Cellular decisions that affect behaviour
Dr Lucy Palmer from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne wants to know how brain cells in mammals process and integrate the information they receive from the sensory environment and how this information impacts on animal behaviour.
She has been working on the neurons in the rodent brain which receive sensory information from their hind limbs, and has shown that a lot of processing occurs in the dendrites, the long filaments of the cells where information is received. Now she wants to determine how the decisions a cell makes—to pass on information or not—affects what an animal does.
Sorting out healthy embryos
Dr Nicolas Plachta from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and EMBL Australia at Monash University is working on developing better and simpler ways of determining the health of the embryos to be implanted in IVF. And he does so by learning more about the very early stages of embryonic life.
Nico has already developed special microscope technology which allows him to study in single living embryonic cells the movement of individual molecules. This has enabled him to determine how the cells making up the embryo differ from those which form the placenta. And he has also documented shape changes in cells which signal the health of early embryos. He now wants to continue that work looking for other molecular and cellular signs of embryo health, and studying the possibilities for medical intervention.
Researcher available for interview Wednesday 6 August 2014
Researchers at the Centenary Institute in Sydney have developed the first 3D model of the distribution of immune cells in living mammalian skin.
“It takes us from something like a paper map to Google Street View,” says the study’s lead author Dr Philip Tong.
“We knew all of these cells were there, but not how many of them and where. Now we can dive right in and we see that some types of immune cells are evenly distributed, while others clump in strategic locations.”
The resulting ‘Atlas’, recently posted online by the highly ranked Journal of Investigative Dermatology, provides the basis for understanding an immune response at a particular site of the skin. It helps explain how the same challenge—for example, injecting the same vaccine or drug—to different areas of the skin can generate a different immune response.
The liver is the only organ in the body that can modify our immune response. This, paradoxically, leaves it open to violent immune attack.
Researchers at Sydney’s Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have now discovered the means by which this happens. In the process they may have opened a pathway towards improving treatment of chronic hepatitis.
The key is in the way the immune system’s T cells operate in the liver.
The researchers found that when the liver T cells encounter a small number of cells making a foreign protein, they function in the normal way—stimulating the production of cells to kill off the source of the protein.
But when they encounter large amounts of foreign protein beyond a certain threshold, the T cells are overwhelmed and fail. This weakening of the defence system is the Achilles heel of the liver, making it more susceptible to invasion by viruses that replicate rapidly and produce large amounts of protein.
The holy grail of healthy old age may lie in the riddle of cells that stop cancer and hasten age at the same time.
Professor Judith Campisi, the head of research labs at San Francisco’s Buck Institute for Research on Ageing and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will present this research at the Inflammation in Disease and Ageing conference at Manly, organised by the Centenary Institute.
She has found that senescent cells, which stop cancer in its tracks, also promote the inflammation that drives many age-related problems and chronic diseases.
We’re living longer. That means that we’re all at greater risk of cancer and we’ll all suffer from bone loss. And for many of us, our final
years will be difficult.
Josef Penninger plans to change all that. His vision is of a future where we can safely surf and live active lives at 85 years of age without fear of fracture, cancer or any of the other scourges of ageing.
He’s director of Austria’s Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, and is in Australia as a guest of the Centenary Institute in Sydney to share his vision for a healthy old age, and discuss the research that’s getting us there.
Could we treat melanoma by cutting off its food source?
The latest research from Sydney’s Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney suggests we could.
Last year the researchers showed they could starve prostate cancer. Now a further discovery opens up the prospect of a new class of drugs that could work across a range of cancers including melanoma.
Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world. It is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and third most common cancer in Australia.
Depletion of macrophages (green cells) after injection of golden staph (orange-red material) into the skin. Credit: Centenary Institute/Nature Immunology
When golden staph enters our skin it can identify the key immune cells and ‘nuke’ our body’s immune response.
Now we know how, thanks to an international research group led by dermatologists from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney.
Using state-of-the art microscopy techniques, the team identified the key immune cells that orchestrate the body’s defenders against invading golden staph, and also how the bacteria can target and destroy these cells, circumventing the body’s immune response.
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Full day hands-on workshops in small groups. Practise interviews with journalists. Find your key messages. Handle tricky questions. Learn how to ensure your research is reported accurately.
Sarah's structure of the course, specific insight and understanding of science, her contacts and common mistakes made in communication were great and furthered my skills in this area.
Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020
Science In Public
2020-01-28T15:04:28+11:00
Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020
Sarah's structure of the course, specific insight and understanding of science, her contacts and common mistakes made in communication were great and furthered my skills in this area.
This is one of the best science communication courses I have ever encountered. It teaches all research to think out of box and really simplify their research in lay man's language. I will highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about science communication.
Shwathy Ramesh
Science In Public
2020-02-24T09:29:55+11:00
Shwathy Ramesh
This is one of the best science communication courses I have ever encountered. It teaches all research to think out of box and really simplify their research in lay man's language. I will highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about science communication.
Sufficient time given to work one-on-one with each participant. TV, radio and newspaper given sufficient weight. Practical, informative and professional
Anonymous - Gold Coast May 2021
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2022-09-05T12:59:42+10:00
Anonymous - Gold Coast May 2021
Sufficient time given to work one-on-one with each participant. TV, radio and newspaper given sufficient weight. Practical, informative and professional
Good mix in terms of topics covered, people invited and media coverage. This course will make me more comfortable and I believe it will improve my confidence about myself and how I talk about my work in front of media.
FEnEX CRC, December 2021
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2022-09-05T13:01:49+10:00
FEnEX CRC, December 2021
Good mix in terms of topics covered, people invited and media coverage. This course will make me more comfortable and I believe it will improve my confidence about myself and how I talk about my work in front of media.
Sarah is an amazing instructor. She has looked after each of the participants very well. I really like her style. Thank you to all team for a valuable training session.
Seyhan Yazar, Garvan Institute of Medical Reseearch
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2022-09-05T13:02:58+10:00
Seyhan Yazar, Garvan Institute of Medical Reseearch
Sarah is an amazing instructor. She has looked after each of the participants very well. I really like her style. Thank you to all team for a valuable training session.
Pushed me to finesse/develop a pitch, find an edge that will facilitate communicating my research findings. The real world experience/opportunity for interviews was exceptionally helpful
Megan Bater
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2022-09-05T13:06:38+10:00
Megan Bater
Pushed me to finesse/develop a pitch, find an edge that will facilitate communicating my research findings. The real world experience/opportunity for interviews was exceptionally helpful
The day was a great balance of topics and presented in an approachable and friendly style that was very inclusive. It was a fantastic and informative session that will really help me day-to-day in the communications work I do.
Ben Westmoreland, 2022
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2022-09-05T13:07:28+10:00
Ben Westmoreland, 2022
The day was a great balance of topics and presented in an approachable and friendly style that was very inclusive. It was a fantastic and informative session that will really help me day-to-day in the communications work I do.