Research Projects
Engineering immune recognition of paediatric brain tumours
Discovery Theme: Immunotherapy
Brain tumours, including medulloblastoma and ependymoma are not heavily infiltrated with immune cells both as a result of being in the “immune-privileged” environment of the brain, and their low mutational load and subsequent lack of neo-antigens.
This project seeks to determine whether the principles of immune recognition for murine glioblastoma also apply to two malignant paediatric brain tumours, medulloblastoma and ependymoma each of which has a distinct cell of origin and genomic profile.
Champions
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.
Related research projects:
Professor Brandon Wainwright
The University of Queensland
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.
Related research projects:
Professor Di Yu
The University of Queensland