Winners of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia’s Metcalf Prizes announced.
Why do some cancer cells get away? – Heather Lee, Newcastle
Newborn babies offer clues for healing hearts – Enzo Porrello, Melbourne
Scientists available for interviews
For a few short days after birth, the heart can regenerate damaged tissue. Enzo Porrello wants to understand why this ability turns off, so that he and colleagues can switch it back on to heal broken hearts.
Understanding regeneration could lead to new treatments for different types of heart disease, the world’s biggest killer, from birth defects to heart attacks late in life. [continue reading…]
Heather Lee is analysing individual cancer cells to understand how some survive therapy. Her research ultimately aims to prevent relapse and lift survival rates for leukaemia.
Heather invented a way to study the genetics of individual cells more closely that will help her find out why some cancer cells are treatable, and others go rogue. With her new technique, she can see the chemical ‘flags’ that tell the cell how to interpret its genetic code. At the same time, she can watch how those instructions are—or aren’t—carried out. [continue reading…]
Winners of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia’s Metcalf Prizes announced
Scientists available for interviews
Jessica Mar is analysing stem cells to discover the changes that influence ageing.
We all started life as a stem cell. Throughout our lives, stem cells repair and replace our tissues, but as we age they stop working as well. Understanding how this decline occurs is fundamental to understanding—and influencing—how we age. [continue reading…]
Mark Dawson has helped to build a new drug to fight an aggressive form of blood cancer, discovering the basic science of gene expression in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), developing the drug to block that action, and leading an international clinical trial to test it.
Mark first explored how genes function in leukaemia, then identified molecules that interrupt the key genetic instructions that perpetuate cancer cells. The drug subsequently developed to treat AML is now the subject of more than 50 clinical trials around the world. [continue reading…]
Winners of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia’s Metcalf Prizes announced
Scientists available for interviews
The National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia supports stem cell science and educates the community about the potential and dangers of stem cell therapies.
The winners of the 2016 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research are:
Read the media release.
The winners will receive their awards at a breakfast ceremony on Wednesday 27 July in Melbourne. Visit the website: stemcellfoundation.net.au
Tracy Heng wants to make cancer treatment gentler and more effective for elderly patients with blood cancer and other blood disorders.
“Bone marrow transplants have transformed survival rates for blood cancers. They replace a diseased blood system with healthy blood-forming cells, but first, doctors have to wipe out a patient’s immune system, which takes a big toll on elderly patients. My goal is to change that,” says Tracy. [continue reading…]
James Chong has two starters in the race to develop stem cell therapies for heart failure as viable alternatives to heart transplants. His research is exploring both the potential for transplanted stem cells to regenerate new heart tissue and how to repair a patient’s heart by rejuvenating their own heart stem cells.
“In Australia, 54,000 people suffer a heart attack and 20,000 die from chronic heart failure each year. I want to develop stem cell treatments that can save the lives of the thousands of people who miss out on heart transplants,” says James. [continue reading…]
Wednesday 13 May 2015
Scientists available for photos and interviews in their labs.
Professor Ryan Lister of the University of Western Australia and Associate Professor Christine Wells of the University of Queensland have both received $50,000 Metcalf Prizes from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of their leadership in stem cell research. [continue reading…]
AusSMC briefing 11 am Melbourne Convention Centre and online at: www.aussmc.org.au
Free public forums and media interviews in Sydney (25 August), Brisbane
(26 August), Adelaide (28 August), and Melbourne (1 September). [continue reading…]
National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia August newsletter
Welcome to the Foundation’s bulletin on stem cell science and news, and our work in supporting stem cell research in Australia.
Last month we celebrated two emerging stem cell leaders, the inaugural winners of our Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research. The $50,000 awards presented to Kaylene Young and Jose Polo will accelerate their research programs.
This month we’re holding a national tour exploring the potential, reality and dangers of stem cells, with visiting speakers American stem cell pioneers Irv Weissman and Ann Tsukamoto.
Irv is the discoverer of human blood-forming stem cells, while Ann is a leader in the commercial development of stem cell medicine, with a particular interest in neural stem cell research. They will join local experts in each city for a series of public forums that discuss both the potential benefits and risks of stem cell therapies. Read on to find out more about the speaking tour events.
The dangers of and possibilities of treatments have been highlighted in the media in recent weeks. Stem cell tourism and experimental treatments were the topic of two prime time television shows: SBS Insight and ABC Head First. Read on for more about these television shows. Last month also saw the sad news of the passing of an Australian mother-of-two who died while visiting Russia for stem cell treatment. [continue reading…]
National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia June newsletter
Welcome to the Foundation’s bulletin on stem cell science, news and our work in supporting stem cell research in Australia.
Australia is home to some remarkable stem cell researchers. Two of them were recognised today by our inaugural Metcalf Prizes.
Kaylene Young believes she can persuade certain lazy stem cells to repair brain injury. Jose Polo is unveiling the details of how stem cells can be produced from adult cells through a process of identity theft and reprogramming.
We’ve been able to award these prizes thanks to the generous support of our donors. We’re calling for more donations now to ensure we can offer future prizes and conduct other initiatives supporting stem cell research and community education.
One such initiative is the Foundation’s new Snapshot of Australian Stem Cell Science: May 2014, illustrating the depth and diversity of local stem cell research. Read on to find out more about the snapshot. [continue reading…]
Could we wake up our brain’s stem cells to repair injury and disease – Kaylene Young, HobartDr Kaylene Young of the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania and Dr Jose Polo of Monash University have both received inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prizes from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of their leadership in stem cell research.
Kaylene Young believes she can persuade lazy stem cells in our brain to repair brain injuries and even treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Kaylene and her colleagues have found neural stem cells and related progenitor cells—which feed, protect and assist nerve cells—in the outer part of the brain most prone to damage, known as the cortex.
By understanding the behaviour and function of these cells, they one day hope to use them for treating nervous and brain disorders or damage. [continue reading…]
Hobart researcher Kaylene Young believes she can persuade lazy stem cells in our brain to repair brain injuries and even treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Dr Kaylene Young of the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania has received an inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prize from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of her leadership in stem cell research.
She and her colleagues have found neural stem cells and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs)—which feed, protect and assist nerve cells—in the outer part of the brain most prone to damage, known as the cortex.
By understanding the behaviour and function of these cells, they one day hope to use them for treating nervous and brain disorders or damage.
“Our ultimate goal is to harness the regenerative capacity of these cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, mental health disorders, and traumatic brain injury,” says Kaylene.
To assist in her work, the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia has awarded Dr Kaylene Young—National Health and Medical Research Council RD Wright Biomedical Research Fellow and Research Group Leader at the University of Tasmania—one of two inaugural Donald Metcalf prizes each worth $50,000. [continue reading…]
Jose Polo is unravelling the details of how stem cells can be produced from adult cells through a mix of identity theft and reprogramming. It is work that needs to be done before such stem cells can be used safely in medicine.
In recognition of his leadership in stem cell research, Associate Professor Polo of Monash University has received an inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prize from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
The award is named for Australia’s pioneering stem cell researcher, Professor Donald Metcalf, AC, of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who is an internationally renowned expert on haematopoiesis or blood cell formation.
Jose’s work is unveiling the development of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells —stem cells generated from skin, liver, blood or any other body cells. It is an important step along a path which could lead to treating degenerative diseases and understanding some cancers.
“When talking about my work, I often use the analogy of a library, where the genes in the cells are the books,” says Jose. “Every cell is a library which contains the same set of books, but they differ in terms of which ones are open and which are closed—in blood vessel cells the books on blood vessels will be open, and in pancreatic cells the books on the pancreas. I want to find the mechanism that opens and closes those books.”
Jose has already made two major strides forward. [continue reading…]
National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia October newsletter
Welcome to my occasional bulletin on stem cell science, news and the ongoing work of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
October’s a busy month for the Foundation, as the region’s top stem cell researchers converge on Brisbane for the 6th annual meeting of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (ASSCR).
National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia June newsletter
The first half of 2013 has seen the Foundation’s formal launch and the commencement of our grant programs and outreach activities.
We’re extending our support to the stem cell research community with 50 travel grants for early-career researchers to join Australia’s premier stem cell research meeting in Brisbane later this year. There are plenty of speaking places for junior investigators, awards for posters and presentations, and a special networking event to introduce them to leaders in stem cell research. [continue reading…]
National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia April newsletter
I’ve been both excited and concerned to see stem cell stories in the media this year.
The Foundation has enjoyed the media attention following our launch. But we’ve also been alarmed by the growing number of reports of people travelling overseas for unproven treatments and the explosion of clinics, here in Australia and overseas, offering treatments using stem cells derived from fat cells.