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 2019 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research will be announced on Monday 4 November 2019. Contact Tanya Ha on 0404 083 863 or tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au to receive media information on embargo.
Breast epithelial cells in culture, viewed through a microscope Credit: Dr Teneale Stewart/Davis Lab, Mater Research Institute, UQ
The stubborn
endurance of heart cells and remarkable plasticity of breasts have won two
Queensland researchers $50,000 each in the annual Metcalf Prizes, awarded by
the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
Mammary biologist Dr Felicity Davis is investigating how breasts change through life: how they develop during puberty, alter during pregnancy and change back after breastfeeding is complete.
A scientist at the University of Queensland’s Mater Research Institute, she
is examining the role stem cells play in this remarkable tissue plasticity.
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…]
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…]
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