The Brain Cancer Centre supports over 70 of the best and brightest medical research minds, working together from across 16 collaborative partners from across Australia including leading hospitals, universities and research institutes.
Meet Our Researchers
Many Minds. One Focus.
Laboratory Head, WEHI
Sarah is a cancer biologist with a strong focus on genetics and the development of personalised therapeutic strategies. Sarah’s research experience has spanned the breast, skin and lung, where she has made major advances in the understanding of tumour development, progression and biomarkers of disease. For her research investigating the metabolite biomarkers of lung cancer, Sarah was awarded the Research Australia Discovery Award in 2018.
Sarah’s research focus leverages fundamental biology, metabolic properties and the immune microenvironment to develop a deeper understanding of cancer.
Related research projects:
Related videos:
Dr Sarah Best
WEHI
WEHI
Professor Antony (Tony)Burgess AC FAA FTSE PhD was formerly Director of the Melbourne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and then a Laboratory Head in the Structural Biology Division at WEHI. Currently he is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne, a Member of WEHI and a member of the Personalised Oncology Division.
His research has focused on the roles of growth factors and cytokines in cell production and in particular the role of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in driving the proliferation and/or survival of cancer cells. He has participated in the development of antibodies and drugs to treat colon cancer and brain tumours. Most recently he was a team leader of research using organoid cultures identify drug combinations which can kill colon adenoma organoids. He also has an interest in the use of brain tumour organoids for identifying drug combinations for improving the treatment of glioblastoma.
Related research projects:
Professor Tony Burgess
WEHI
Division Head, WEHI
Prof Call completed his PhD in Immunology at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA, USA) and completed postdoctoral training in solution NMR of membrane proteins at Harvard Medical School. He then established an independent research program at WEHI in 2010. Prof Call’s lab has a particular focus on how the membrane-embedded portions of receptors (transmembrane domains) contribute to the structure and function of immune-signalling complexes and other important cellular receptors. These are not mere anchors for extracellular and intracellular domains, but in fact they provide a unique platform for molecular interactions and represent the only direct physical link between ligand-binding and signalling domains across the cell barriers.
His team combine biochemical and biophysical methods (both X-ray crystallography and solution NMR) with protein engineering, saturating mutagenesis and cellular and molecular immunology techniques to study the mechanics of receptor activation and the regulation of cell-surface proteins in the immune system. A major focus in recent years has been the development (with computational protein design collaborators) and structural characterisation of synthetic transmembrane domains as tools to control the structures and activities of engineered receptors such as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for cellular immunotherapies.
Related research projects:
Professor Matt Call
WEHI
Laboratory Head, WEHI
A/Prof Call’s research has a particular focus on how the transmembrane domains of receptors contribute to the structure and function of immune-signalling complexes. These are not mere anchors for extracellular and intracellular domains, but provide a unique platform for molecular interactions and represent the only direct physical link between ligand-binding and signalling domains across the cell barrier.
To understand how receptors are activated and the interactions the make with other proteins we are using deep-mutational scanning to uncover mechanistic insights, such as which areas of the protein are susceptible to disease-causing mutations and how to these relate to the natural function of the receptor. A major focus in recent years has been the development (with computational protein design collaborators) and structural characterisation (by x-ray crystallography) of synthetic transmembrane domains as tools to control the structures and activities of engineered receptors such as chimeric antigen receptors for CAR T-cell immunotherapies.
Related research projects:
Associate Professor Melissa Call
WEHI
Senior Research Officer, WEHI
Ryan Cross is a senior research officer in Jenkins Laboratory within the Immunology Division at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research. Ryan is member of the immunotherapy program of The Brain Cancer Centre, with his research focusing on the development of novel immunotherapies for treatment of brain cancer. Early in life, Ryan was inspired by a documentary about Dr John Hammond and his vision to genetically engineer dinosaurs. Disappointingly, after finding out that it wasn’t a documentary Ryan redirected that childhood dream to become an expert in synthetic biology whilst studying for his PhD at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Applying his skills in synthetic biology, Ryan is researching how best to genetically engineer the immune system of a person with brain cancer to enhances their immune system’s anti-cancer efficacy. Similar genetic engineering approaches have been successful in blood cancers, however given the increased complexity of brain cancer there is need for a greater level of complexity in the design of synthetic biology for similar success in brain cancer to be realised. Whilst cutting edge genetic engineering may not deliver the pet dinosaur of Ryan’s childhood dreams, he hopes it may provide a future in which those diagnosed with brain cancer are given the opportunity for many nights dreaming of dinosaurs.
Dr Ryan Cross
WEHI
Medical Oncologist, Associate Director Clinical Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Prof Desai has extensive experience in translational research applied to early drug development, particularly in sarcomas and in colorectal cancer. He heads the Phase I/Early Drug Development program and is Deputy-Director of the PCCTU. He has been Principal Investigator on over 50 clinical trials over the last 10 years including 40 Phase I and first in man trials. These have been both investigator initiated and collaborative trials with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The research has been across a broad array of agents including kinase inhibitors and novel immuno-oncology agents/combinations. He has authored/co-authored approximately 180 publications in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, The Lancet and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Prof Desai has served in a number of key national and international committees including American Society of Clinical Oncology and European Society of Medical Oncology in Sarcoma and Drug Development. He has been successful in obtaining approximately $50 million in peer-reviewed and direct industry research funding. Professor Desai completed his Medical Oncology training in Melbourne in 2002.
He completed a translational research fellowship in sarcoma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA.
Related research projects:
Professor Jayesh Desai
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Leader Cancer Genetics Group
Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Professor Dickinson began her career as a cancer biologist in the Joint Oncology Program led by Professor John Kerr, a world-recognised pioneer in apoptosis research where she gained a PhD in Pathology from the University of Queensland. Later relocating to Tasmania Jo trained with eminent Australian ophthalmologist Professor David Mackey in eye disease genetics and then with award winning human geneticist Professor Simon Foote, then Director of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.
Prof Dickinson now leads the Cancer Genetics team at the Menzies Institute and her passion is to understand how inherited differences in our genes drive the development of complex diseases, in particular cancers including brain cancers. Highlights of her career have included working with cross-disciplinary teams applying genetic approaches to solving scientific problems in a variety of fields and the opportunity to work with indigenous communities. A particular focus of her work is employing genomic innovation to deliver improved health outcomes for those diagnosed with diseases with historically poor outcomes such as brain cancer. In addition to understanding the genetic basis of human disease development and progression, she has a strong interest in the ethical and legal issues associated with biobanking and the application of genomics in medicine.
Related research projects:
Professor Jo Dickinson
Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Director of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Professor Kate Drummond, AM, MD, FRACS is Director of Neurosurgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Head of CNS Tumours at the VCCC Parkville Precinct. Her research and clinical interests are in the biology and management of brain tumours, with special interests in advanced surgical techniques such as awake craniotomy, quality of life and blood and imaging biomarkers.
She has published over 190 peer-reviewed papers and many book chapters and has received more than $35 million in research funding. Her h-index is 43. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery. She has served as Chief Examiner in Neurosurgery, Chair of the Women in Surgery Committee and on the Neurosurgery Surgical Education and Training Board for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, being awarded the RACS medal for these services. She is the President of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurosurgeons.
She is a strong advocate for and has written and presented widely on diversity in neurosurgery. She is Chair of Pangea Global Health Education, a for-impact organisation specialising in health education in low resource settings. In 2019 she was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medicine, particularly in neuro-oncology and community health.
Related research projects:
- BRAIN POP
- BRAIN Registry
- Dangerous Networking: Brain cancers and the brain
- Deciphering the Molecular Mosaic of NF2
- A novel liquid biopsy for monitoring and chemoresistance detection in brain cancer
Related videos:
Professor Kate Drummond AM
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Co-Head, Brain Tumour Research
The Kids Research Institute Australia
Raelene was awarded her PhD in 2003 from the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research (under the supervision of Peter Klinken), undertook postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA (under the supervision of Suzanne Baker), and was awarded a Fellowship in 2011 to return to Australia to establish the Brain Tumour Research Program at the The Kids Research Institute Australia which she co-leads with Nick Gottardo. This collaborative group of clinicians, neurosurgeons and laboratory scientists uses a suite of in vivo models to understand the effects of paediatric brain tumour mutations on normal brain development and tumorigenesis. Her team also investigates potential therapeutic targets and uses in vivo model systems to evaluate novel treatments prior to clinical trial.
Raelene is a passionate advocate for science and actively encourages young scientists to get involved in medical research. She has mentored high school students, undergrads, Honours, Masters and PhD students in her lab. Raelene has also chaired the The Kids Research Institute Australia Postdoctoral Council and been on the executive committee for the Australian Academy of Science Early-Mid Career Researchers Forum.
Related research projects:
- Developing and characterising unique paediatric brain cancer models to expedite clinical translation
Related videos:
Associate Professor Raelene Endersby
The Kids Research Institute Australia
Laboratory Head, WEHI
Saskia is a bioinformatician focusing on the development and application of innovative approaches and technologies to advance our understanding of the brain in health and disease. Saskia has been instrumental in the discovery of pathogenic variants for several neurological diseases. For her innovative research approach, she was awarded the Harry Perkins Aspire Award in 2020.
Additionally, Saskia in her role as an Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) ChooseMaths ambassador passionately advocates for STEM education and actively encourages girls to pursue higher education in mathematics.
Related research projects:
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Dr Saskia Freytag
WEHI
Medical Oncologist, The Alfred Hospital & Cabrini
Clinician Researcher, WEHI
Dr Lucy Gately is a medical oncologist at the Alfred Hospital where she is Head of Neuro-Oncology, Cancer Genetics and Clinical Innovation. She is also a clinician researcher in The Brain Cancer Centre as part of the Personalised Oncology Division where she leads a program of research focussed on clinical data and research infrastructure. Lucy is passionate about improving the lives of patients with brain cancer and was awarded a PhD in brain cancer survivorship from the University of Melbourne. The intersection of her research and clinical work provides continued meaning in the battle against brain cancer.
Related research projects:
Related videos:
Dr Lucy Gately
WEHI
Division Head, WEHI
Professor Peter Gibbs is a Laboratory Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. He is a senior medical oncologist at the Western Hospital, where he is an experienced clinical investigator, having led multiple, large, randomised clinical trials. At WEHI his laboratory is focused on translational research, using studies involving clinical data and samples to improve treatment decision making and outcomes, including studies in brain cancer. Professor Gibbs also leads an expanding program in registry-based clinical trials.
Related research projects:
Professor Peter Gibbs
WEHI
Co-Head, Brain Tumour Research
The Kids Research Institute Australia
Prof Nick Gottardo is Co-Head of the Institute’s Brain Tumour Research Team and a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist/Neuro-Oncologist and Head of Department of Paediatric Oncology and Haematology at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Prof Gottardo is also an Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).
Prof Gottardo is driven by his belief that it’s unacceptable for children to die from brain tumours. His research interests include developing laboratory models of brain tumours, testing new therapies using these models and identifying areas of weaknesses in the tumours that might be suitable drug targets.
Prof Gottardo’s medical career began at Leeds University with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery/Chirurgery. He worked for two and a half years as a doctor in the UK, before heading to Australia in 1996, where he took up a position at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and began a PhD at The Kids Research Institute Australia. After completing his PhD, Prof Gottardo headed to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, USA, one of the world’s premier childhood cancer institutes. He spent three years at St Jude as a post-doctoral brain tumour fellow and gained extensive experience in the laboratory in brain tumour model generation, preclinical testing and brain cancer cell biology, as well as expertise in the management of children with brain tumours in the clinic. In 2008 he received the International Symposium Paediatric Neuro-Oncology (ISPNO) Young Investigator award for scientific excellence. Dr Gottardo returned to Perth Australia in 2008 as a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist/Neuro-Oncologist and established the Brain Tumour Research Programme at the The Kids Research Institute Australia. In 2012 he was awarded the Raine Clinician Research Fellowship and in 2016 the Cancer Council Western Australia Research Fellowship.
In his clinical capacity Prof Gottardo is the Deputy Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology and Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) and Chair of their Central Nervous System (CNS)Tumours Subgroup, and a Board member of the Australian Children’s Cancer Therapy (ACCT) group. He is also a member of the international North American based Children’s Oncology Group (COG) CNS Tumour Committee and leads the COG’s upfront clinical trial for patients with WNT-driven medulloblastoma. He collaborates extensively both nationally and internationally; he is a founding member of the Brain Cancer Discovery Collaborative (BCDC) – a collaborative network consisting of the best brain cancer scientists and clinicians across Australia and a member of the International Medulloblastoma Working Group.
Related research projects:
Professor Nick Gottardo
The Kids Research Institute Australia
Oncologist/Neuro-Oncologist WCHN
SAHMRI
Prof. Jordan R. Hansford specialises in the treatment of paediatric brain tumours. He is the lead in paediatric neuro-oncology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and lead of the Paediatric Neuro-Oncology at the South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is cross-appointed at the South Australia ImmunoGenomics Cancer Institute at the University of Adelaide. He leads the medical proton integration team and has collaborative preclinical and clinical projects nationally and internationally, and has published widely in paediatric neuro-oncology with over 75 papers cited >5000 times. He is PI or co-PI on several national and international brain tumour studies including early phase studies. He currently runs the paediatric brain cancer biobank in South Australia.
He has been awarded or co-awarded nearly $20M in funding for pre-clinical or clinical trials.
He is an advisor for the Rare Brain Tumours Consortium based out of the Hospital for Sick Children Toronto and the international DIPG Registry. He is a director of ANZCHOG and is the chair of the Neuro-Oncology group. He has led or contributed to many paediatric brain tumour trials leading to disease specific improvements to clinical care and outcomes in many disease types including the practice changing targeted therapy in LGG presented at ASCO 2022. He was invited to participate in the Australian Minister of Health’s National Roadmap to tackle brain cancer and the development of the Australian Brain Cancer Mission and now sits on their board. Most recently the ANZCHOG team has been focussed on the translation of methylation profiling to the upfront diagnostics of paediatric brain tumours that is now offered nationally as a NATA approved pathology test. This has led to changes in clinical practice across the country.
Related research projects:
Professor Jordan R. Hansford
SAHMRI
Director of Cancer and Blood Services
Royal Hobart Hospital
Clinical Professor Rosemary Harrup FRACP FRCPA trained in Medical Oncology and Clinical and Laboratory Haematology, completing a dual Fellowship in 2000. She is a full-time clinician and current Director of the Cancer and Blood Services at the Royal Hobart Hospital. She has a strong interest in clinical research, particularly in the areas of Brain Cancer, Malignant Haematology and Late Effects. She serves as a board member of the Cancer Council of Tasmania, the RHH Research Foundation and Deputy Chair of COGNO, the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro Oncology and is a Tasmanian representative on the Australian Teletrials Project. Dr Harrup is a member of the Australian Brain Cancer Mission Expert Advisory Panel from 2022. She is passionate about delivering the best possible cancer care and support to all cancer patients throughout the cancer journey.
Related research projects:
Professor Rosemary Harrup
Royal Hobart Hospital
Associate Director of Laboratory Research
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Ben Hogan is a Professor at the University of Melbourne and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Australia) where he is Co-Head of the Program in Organogenesis and Cancer and runs the laboratory of Vascular Cell and Developmental Biology. Since 2023 he is also the Associate Director of Laboratory Research, overseeing ~40 research groups in diverse areas of cancer biology and research. Ben performed his PhD in myelopoiesis at the Ludwig Institute (2005, Australia) before a postdoc at the Hubrecht Institute (2006-2009, The Netherlands) where he performed the first forward genetic screens in lymphangiogenesis using zebrafish. He became a group leader in 2010 at the University of Queensland before moving to Melbourne and being promoted to Professor in 2019. Ben has been previously supported by fellowships from EMBO, the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia). His work has uncovered new components and effectors of the VEGFC-VEGFR3 signalling pathway that controls lymphangiogenesis in development, cancer and lymphatic disease in humans. His lab currently uses live imaging of vascular development, zebrafish and mouse genetics, functional and single cell genomic approaches and is exploring lymphatic vascular development and the formation of the blood brain barrier. In 2024, he was awarded the Judah Folkman award from the North American Vascular Biology Organisation, the leading international award for achievements for mid-career vascular biologists.
Related research projects:
Professor Ben Hogan
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Laboratory Head, WEHI
Co-Head Research Strategy, The Brain Cancer Centre
Prof Misty Jenkins is a NHMRC fellow and laboratory head at WEHI. Misty leads the immunotherapy program within The Brain Cancer Centre. She is dedicated to discovering novel immunotherapy targets for high grade gliomas in adults and children. Her research focusses on the development of novel chimeric antigen receptor T cells for brain cancer. Her group also uses cutting edge two-photon microscopy combined with mouse models of brain cancer to investigate the tumour microenvironment and uncover unique biology of brain tumours.
Misty has a PhD in Immunology from The University of Melbourne, followed by postdoctoral positions at The Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Prof Jenkins was awarded the L’Oreal for Women in Science Fellowship (2013), was Tall Poppy of the year (2015), was awarded the Top100 Women of Influence award (2016) and was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2020.
Misty co-chairs a Federal Health Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and is a passionate advocate for gender equity and Indigenous Health and education. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to medical science in Immunology, the support of women in STEM, and to the Indigenous community.
Related research projects:
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Professor Misty Jenkins AO
WEHI
Neurosurgeon
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Jordan is a neurosurgeon scientist working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne. He completed his PhD through the University of Melbourne in 2021 for work investigating blood based biomarkers in brain cancer. In 2024 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Australia after completing his neurosurgical training. He has published 2 book chapters and 17 peer-reviewed articles, as well as delivering a number of international and national invited lectures. He was awarded the AANS/CNS Neuro-oncology trainee award in 2022, the first time this award has been given to a Non-North American researcher, as well as the Peter Leech Memorial Prize for the best scientific manuscript by a neurosurgery trainee in 2021. He is a current research fellow with the brain cancer centre and junior editor for the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience whilst working as a Neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and has an honorary appointment with the Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne.
Related research projects:
Dr Jordan Jones
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Laboratory Head
University of Queensland
Dr Lagendijk finished her MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences at Radboud University Nijmegen. During her studies, Anne has worked on ovarian specification during an internship with Peter Koopman (Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Brisbane) and identified microRNAs that control pancreas development with Ronald Plasterk (Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, the Netherlands). Through this work, Anne had developed a lasting fascination with Developmental Biology and thus for her PhD training Anne decided to stay at the Hubrecht and joined the lab of Prof Jeroen Bakkers. She identified novel regulators that control extracellular matrix homeostasis in the developing zebrafish heart which is essential for cardiac valve formation. After completing her PhD, Anne relocated to the IMB in 2012 to work as a UQ postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof Ben Hogan. She initiated a project studying the mechanotransduction of endothelial cell-cell junctions in vivo, in collaboration with the lab of Prof. Alpha Yap.
Anne opened her own lab at the IMB in 2019. Her team uses both zebrafish and 3D cultured human vasculature to identify the cellular mechanisms that control blood vessel integrity, both during development and in diseases such as childhood brain cancer and familial vascular malformations.
Related research projects:
Dr Anne Lagendijk
University of Queensland
PhD Student, WEHI
Leesa commenced her PhD in the Jenkins Laboratory at WEHI in 2022. She was the recipient of The Frank Montague Scholarship in 2022. She is thrilled to continue working with another of our research rockstars Professor Misty Jenkins AO.
Leesa tells us more about her immunotherapy research and her hopes that breakthroughs in this area will dramatically improve treatments and outcomes for brain cancer patients.
Related videos:
Leesa Lertsumitkul
WEHI
Theme Leader, New Medicines & Advanced Technologies
WEHI
Professor Guillaume Lessene trained as an organic chemist, completing his PhD at the University of Bordeaux, before undertaking postdoctoral work with Professor Feldman at Pennsylvania State University.
Since moving to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2001, his major research focus has been the development of small molecules that target apoptotic and necroptotic cell death pathways.
Since January 2019, Professor Lessene heads the New Medicines and Advanced Technologies Theme at the Institute. This multidisciplinary research theme comprises of basic research driven by structural and chemical biology, translation of basic discoveries into new medicines together with clinical research, and cutting-edge technologies.
Professor Lessene’s work targeting the BCL-2 family of proteins for cancer therapy formed the basis of a major collaboration between the Institute and two pharmaceutical companies, Genentech and AbbVie, leading to the development of venetoclax, the first BH3-mimetic approved by the US Federal Drug Agency (FDA) for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).
Related research projects:
Professor Guillaume Lessene
WEHI
Head of Screening, WEHI
A/ Prof Kym Lowes is the Head of the Screening Lab at WEHI. With over 16 years of experience in early-stage drug discovery, her laboratory exploits state-of-the-art robotic equipment to enhance the scope and speed of the pre-clinical drug discovery process. She leads a multidisciplinary team of 19 staff comprising assay development specialists, target screeners, data scientists, automation experts and engineers.
A/ Prof Lowes has a successful track record leading screening campaigns with collaborators from both academia and pharma. She has designed, implemented and led many large-scale screening campaigns and effectively executed hit to lead and lead optimisation programs. She has been a key contributor to multidisciplinary teams across a wide range of indications including oncology, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases and various target classes including enzymes, protein-protein interactions and GPCRs.
Related research projects:
Associate Professor Kym Lowes
WEHI
Senior Research Fellow
Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Dr. Owen Marshall is a Senior Research Fellow at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, where he leads a research group investigating how epigenetic factors influence brain development and disease. His career began with a focus on understanding how the packaging of our genetic material changes during cancer development, and led to him developing new tools to profile these changes in living organisms. His current research builds on these foundations, aiming to uncover the mechanisms that drive the healthy development of our brains, and understand how these are disrupted in the formation of brain tumours. Dr. Marshall’s work is driven by the hope that understanding these processes at a molecular level will lead to better ways to prevent and treat brain cancer in the future.
Related research projects:
Dr Owen Marshall
Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Neurosurgery Registrar, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
PhD Candidate, The Florey, University of Melbourne
Dr. Heidi McAlpine is a training neurosurgeon who completed her BSc(hons), MBBS and DipSurgAnat at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include brain cancer survivorship and understanding the electrical activity of brain cancer cells. Over the last 10 years her survivorship research has gone from an idea of forming an evidence based online resource for brain cancer patients to receiving a $2.6M MRFF grant to build this resource. She has returned to clinical work at the Royal Children’s Hospital after undertaking a PhD at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health looking at the electrical activity of brain cancer which was supported by the Warren Haynes Fellowship from the Neuroscience Foundation, the Melbourne University Research Training Program Scholarship and the Brain Cancer Centre. Heidi hopes to forge a career as a surgeon/scientist specialising in brain cancer surgery and research. For her clinical work Heidi was awarded the inaugural Professor Kaye Best Neurosurgery Registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital award in 2019.
In addition to her clinical and research work, Heidi leads the Pangea Medical Student Program, which upskills local medical trainees in low-income countries in the fundamentals of patient care. She is a mother of two pandemic babies, and juggles her time between operating, laboratory work, and spending time with her family.
Related research projects:
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Dr Heidi McAlpine
The Royal Melbourne Hospital & The Florey, University of Melbourne
Research Officer
The Brain Cancer Centre & WEHI
Dr Zachery Moore is the inaugural recipient of The Greg Lange Fellowship & is part of The Brain Cancer Research Lab team at WEHI
Zac is passionate about “teaching old drugs new tricks” exploring drugs that have already been developed and are approved to use across other diseases, and investigating if they can be repurposed for use in brain cancer.
His research could hold the key for innovative new therapies that make a positive impact on treatment options available for patients.
He completed both undergraduate and postgraduate studies at The University of Melbourne. During his PhD he focused on understanding how immune cells within the brain modulate levels of inflammation, and how this can then lead to poor outcomes to those with Alzheimer’s disease.
Related videos:
Dr Zachery Moore
WEHI
Neurosurgeon, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Associate Professor Morokoff is an academic neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne, Australia. He trained in Melbourne and his PhD is in the biology of glioma. He completed a brain tumour fellowship in 2006-2007 at Harvard University, Boston and Necker Hospital in Paris. His clinical interests are skull base surgery, neuro-oncology and epilepsy. He directs an active brain tumour and epilepsy research program.
Related research projects:
Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Senior Research Officer, WEHI
Dr Diane Moujalled is a neural cell biologist specialising in brain cancer and programmed cell death signalling. Diane completed her PhD in Biochemistry in 2011 at La Trobe University and has undertaken post-doctoral research as a Dementia Australia Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne and The Florey Institute of Mental Health. Diane has demonstrated expertise in investigating neurological disorders including motor neuron disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, Diane is a mid-career senior post-doctoral researcher and co-lead of The Pathways to New Medicines theme of The Brain Cancer Centre. In this role, Diane brings her expertise in neurological disorders, molecular cell biology and programmed cell death signalling to identify new therapeutic strategies to treat brain cancer by advancing the use of BH3 mimetics, a class of novel anti-cancer drugs, in combination with newly discovered agents. Her research also focuses on applying cutting edge genome editing technologies to determine mechanisms of resistance to therapy with the aim to revolutionise the current treatment paradigm for brain cancer patients.
Related research projects:
Dr Diane Moujalled
WEHI
Associate Dean (Graduate Research) Faculty of Pharmacy Monash University
Joseph is a pharmacist and pharmaceutical scientist who graduated with a PhD from Monash University focussing on buccal mucosal drug delivery in 2004. I am a Professor and Associate Dean (Graduate Research) at Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University. I have a passion for understanding how and why the blood-brain barrier (BBB) acts as such a fascinating interface between the CNS and periphery. My laboratory focusses on how we can overcome the BBB to improve CNS drug delivery, how the BBB alters in disease, and how we can restore the BBB to improve brain homeostasis in CNS disease.
Related research projects:
Professor Joseph Nicolazzo
Monash University
Theme Leader and Group Head, The Florey, University of Melbourne
Professor Lucy Palmer is head of the Neural Network Laboratory at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. She completed her Master of Science at the University of Minnesota, USA and Ph.D at the Australian National University. She then pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Bern, Switzerland and Charite University, Berlin before returning to Australia to establish her research laboratory. Her research uses advanced functional imaging and electrophysiological techniques to investigate how the brain encodes learning and memory in health and disease. She has published articles in high impact journals such as Science, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Communications.
Related research projects:
Professor Lucy Palmer
The Florey, University of Melbourne
Deputy Director, Radiation Oncology
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Claire Phillips is a Deputy Director of Radiation Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Melbourne and a sub-specialist in NeuroOncology including Linac and Gamma Knife radiosurgery. She has a long clinical experience in the multidisciplinary-team management of primary brain cancer and brain metastases. Claire has lead clinical trials in brain cancer and eye tumours, including the TROG 08.02 (Short versus Long course RT for glioblastoma in the elderly) and TROG 16.02 Local HERO study of radiosurgery and/ or neurosurgery alone for HER2+ breast cancer brain metastases. She is an active member of the TROG CNS Working Group and holds a number of leadership positions including Chair of the RANZCR Particle Therapy Working Group.
Related research projects:
Dr Claire Phillips
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
PhD Student
WEHI
Krishneel commenced his PhD in the Jenkins Laboratory at WEHI in 2023.
He was the recipient of the The Ann Henderson Scholarship in 2022 and is excited about continuing his early career work with another of our research superstars, Professor Misty Jenkins.
Here, Krishneel gives us an insight into his work & aspirations for the future of brain cancer research.
Related videos:
Krishneel Prasad
WEHI
Medical Oncologist
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre & The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Professor Mark Rosenthal trained as a Medical Oncologist in Melbourne, Sydney, and New York. He received a Doctor of Philosophy at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (1992-1996). He was Professor Director of the Department of Medical Oncology and Clinical Haematology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 2006-2016; Chair and Chief Medical Officer of Cancer Trials Australia (2006-2016); inaugural Chair of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (2007-2017) and was the Clinical Trials Lead for the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (2016-20).
Professor Rosenthal is currently a Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Director of the Parkville Cancer Clinical Trials Unit. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has been awarded over $40 million in research grants. His major interests are neuro-oncology and clinical trials.
Related research projects:
Related videos:
Professor Mark Rosenthal
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre & The Royal Melbourne Hospital
PhD Candidate, Monash University & WEHI
Pranav is currently undertaking a collaborative PhD working with Associate Professor Joseph Nicolazzo, Monash University and Dr Gabby Watson, WEHI on engineering nanobodies capable of overcoming the blood-brain barrier.
This unique collaborative project is funded through The Brain Cancer Centre investigating overcoming the blood-brain barrier.
Pranav has been awarded the Dine For A Cure 2023 GBM Scholarship.
He is also teaching units across the Bachelor’s and Master’s of Pharmaceutical Science course at Monash University.
His research focuses on engineering nanobodies capable of overcoming the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This barrier plays a crucial role in shielding the brain, making it challenging for medications to reach the brain tumour.
Gliomas are a highly aggressive form of brain cancer and are often resistant to conventional treatments with heartbreakingly low survival rates that haven’t changed in 30 years. Unfortunately, when a brain cancer patients receives medication only of a fraction manages to cross the BBB and reach the tumour.
Related videos:
Pranav Runwal
Monash University & WEHI
Laboratory Head, WEHI
Associate Professor Oliver Sieber is a Laboratory Head in the Personalised Oncology Division at WEHI. His research aims to identify new and more effective treatments for individuals affected by cancers of the bowel, oral cavity and brain. After gaining his PhD at Cancer Research UK in 2004, he undertook 6 years postdoctoral training at Cancer Research UK, the University of Oxford and the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research (LICR Melbourne) in the field of cancer biology. He was Joint Laboratory Head at the LICR Melbourne from 2009-12, before joining WEHI as Laboratory Head. At WEHI, he set up the Stafford Fox Centre for Cancer Stem Cell Disease Modelling to facilitate the development of precision medicine approaches for cancer utilising patient-derived organoids. He serves as Deputy Chair of the Translational Research Committee of the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG).
Related research projects:
Associate Professor Oliver Sieber
WEHI
Division Head, Laboratory Head WEHI
Prof Strasser is NHMRC L3 Investigator, Professor of University of Melbourne, elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Academy of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), and Foreign Member of EMBO. He heads WEHI’s Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, a major world centre for research on cell death and cancer. His pioneering research on BCL-2 established that deregulation of cell death is a prime contributor to cancer and autoimmune disease and that defects in apoptosis render cancer cells resistant to many therapeutic agents. Andreas is a world expert on the role of p53, the BCL-2 protein family and other oncogenes as well as tumour suppressor genes in tumour development. He established that there are two distinct signalling pathways leading to cell death, one triggered by ligation of cell surface “death receptors” and the other by cytokine deprivation or other stresses. Andreas was also the first to demonstrate that BH3-only proteins, a pro-apoptotic sub-group of the BCL-2 protein family, are essential for cytotoxic agents to initiate apoptosis signalling. These discoveries have major biological implications and suggest novel therapeutic strategies for autoimmunity, cancer and degenerative diseases. His discovery of the functions of the BH3-only proteins has directly underpinned the development (collaboration between WEHI, Gennetech and AbbVie) of BH3 mimetic drugs for cancer therapy, with the BCL-2 inhibitor Venetoclax having benefited already several tens of thousands of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) or acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
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Professor Andreas Strasser
WEHI
University of Tasmania
A/Prof Phillippa Taberlay is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, and Principal Research Fellow in Epigenetics at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania.
Phillippa’s research centres on understanding ‘epigenetics’ (meaning, ‘above DNA’), and particularly how DNA is packaged in 3D space inside cells to control how genes are turned on and off in the right cell type at the right time. Her laboratory uses cutting-edge methods to understand how abnormal epigenetic switches drive the development of brain cancers, with the goal of identifying novel options to reverse these changes.
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Associate Professor Phillippa Taberlay
University of Tasmania
Division Head, WEHI
Prof. Anne K. Voss established her laboratory at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia in 2000, after post-doctoral positions at Cornell University, USA and at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany. From 2012 to 2018 Anne was Head of the Development and Cancer Division, 2019-2023 she was Joint-Head and from 2023 onward Head of the Epigenetics and Development Division at WEHI. Anne received the Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship (Biomedical Science) in 2015; the ATSE Clunies Ross Award (Knowledge Commercialisation) in 2021 with Tim Thomas and Jonathan Baell, for the commercialisation of MYST histone acetyltransferase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer; the Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation in 2021 and the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research 2023, both with Tim Thomas, for the characterisation of MYST proteins, discovery of their key functions, validation as novel targets for anti-cancer therapeutics, and the discovery of a new type of anti-cancer compounds; and the Julian Wells Medal from the Lorne Genome Conference in 2024.
Anne investigates the genetic regulation of embryonic development, adult stem cells and cancer with particular emphasis on transcriptional regulation through chromatin modifications in health and disease. She has described the roles of the MYST family of histone acetyltransferases (KAT5, KAT6A, KAT6B, KAT7, KAT8) in embryonic development, identified their histone lysine acetylation targets, investigated their genomic distribution and effects on gene expression and DNA replication, as well as determined the cellular functions affected by loss of MYST family members in healthy cells and in cancer cells.
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Professor Anne Voss
WEHI
Director of the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre
The University of Queensland
Brandon Wainwright is the Director of the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre at the University of Queensland Frazer Institute. The Wainwright laboratory discovered the first gene that was known to directly cause brain cancers in either adults or children. Since that time they have focused on understanding how paediatric brain tumours not only grow but rapidly escape conventional therapy. Some of their discoveries have resulted in current clinical trials. Current approaches being used by the Wainwright laboratory include the manipulation of the immune system in combination with novel small molecule therapy to treat a range of malignant paediatric brain tumours.
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Professor Brandon Wainwright
The University of Queensland
Paediatric Oncologist, The Royal Children’s Hospital
Dr Wang undertook basic paediatric training at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and Monash Children’s Hospital, prior to completing her fellowship in training in paediatric haematology/oncology at the RCH. During her fellowship, she cultivated a keen interest in immunotherapy, and became very interested in the concept of harnessing a patient’s own immune system to fight their own cancer. As such, she undertook a PhD in immunotherapy at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2018, completing this in 2022 concurrently with her clinical work. As an early career clinician-scientist, she is dedicated to advancing her work in CAR T cell therapy in paediatric cancers with poor outcomes. In future, she aims to lead a team of researchers driving innovative investigations in immune therapy target discovery, and open new clinical trials in CAR T cell therapy, whilst ensuring the safe and effective utilization of this novel therapy in patients.
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- TBC
Dr Stacie Wang
The Royal Children’s Hospital
Senior Research Officer, WEHI
Dr. Gabby Watson is a structural biologist and protein biochemist at WEHI. Gabby has over 10 years of experience with building understanding of disease related proteins and developing novel therapeutic molecules for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.
Gabby’s expertise stems from a PhD from Monash University, centred on rationally designing peptide inhibitors against a breast cancer target, followed by post-doctoral research investigating immune evasion by viruses. At WEHI, Gabby returned to her roots of developing new cancer treatments, and as part of the BCC Gabby works collaboratively to develop new nanobody-based technologies to improve transport of promising anti-cancer therapies across the blood-brain barrier.
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Dr Gabby Watson
WEHI
Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Laboratory Head, WEHI
Co-Head Research Strategy, The Brain Cancer Centre
Jim is a medical oncologist specialising in neuro-oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He completed his PhD and was awarded the “Professor Lynn Corcoran PhD Prize” for his research understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for resistance to cell death in breast cancer. This work has provided the foundation for testing novel compounds in early phase clinical trials, together with industry collaboration.
In 2020, Jim commenced working remotely with the Ligon laboratory, Dana Faber Cancer Institute, with a focus on uncovering resistance mechanisms to glioma. Jim is passionate about improving supportive care for patients and carers with brain cancer. Together with Prof Kate Drummond, he co-leads an MRFF funded program to develop an online supportive care platform.
Dr Whittle & Prof Drummond have recently launched a world-first clinical trial Brain POP, funded through The BCC, which will enable doctors to precisely see the effect of a new drug therapy on a patient’s brain cancer for the first time.
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Dr Jim Whittle
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre & WEHI
Professor of Immunology
The University of Queensland
Professor Di Yu (PhD, FAHMS) holds the position of Chair in Paediatric Immunotherapy and serves as the inaugural Director of the Ian Frazer Centre of Children’s Immunotherapy Research at the University of Queensland. Additionally, in his role as a Professor of Immunology, he leads the Systems and Translational T-cell Immunology Laboratory (STTIL) at the University of Queensland Frazer Institute. He received his PhD from the Australian National University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Before joining the University of Queensland, he was a faculty member at Monash University and the Australian National University.
His research is dedicated to exploring T-cell subsets and developing new therapies to modulate their functions in clinical settings, aiming to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. He is deeply passionate about assessing individuals’ immune status and co-founded the ASI “systems immunology” special interest group.
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Professor Di Yu
The University of Queensland
Research Advisory Committee
Professor Brendan Crabb AC PhD FAA FAHMS FASM
Samantha Chandler, Consumer Representative
Professor Tracey O’Brien FRACP, MBA, LLM (Health), GAICD, MBChB, BSc
Assistant Professor Pratiti (Mimi) Bandopadhayay, MBBS PhD
Professor Martine Roussel PhD
Professor Brandon Wainwright AM
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh, MD, PhD, FRCS(C), FAANS