Table of contents Annual Review 2009 The John Curtin School of Medical Research Introduction Staff & students 83 From the Director . 2 Emerging Pathogens . .84 and Vaccines Selected highlights . .5 Genome Biology . .85 JCSMR official opening . .8 Immunology . .86 JCSMR organisation . 9 Neuroscience . .88 Committees . .10 Structural Biology . .89 Research programs 11 Translational Medicine . .90 Emerging Pathogens . .12 Australian Phenomics Facility 90 and Vaccines High Blood Pressure . .90 Genome Biology . .16 Research Unit Immunology . .24 Students . .91 Neuroscience . .34 School Administration . .93 and Services Structural Biology . .43 Translational Medicine . .52 Publications, patents 95 Australian Phenomics . .55 & presentations Facility Publications . .96 Australian Cancer Research . 57 Patents . .103 Foundation Biomolecular Resource Facility Presentations . .104 Student presentations . .109 Staff & student 59 achievements Contact with our community 111 Degrees . .60 Commitment to serving . 115 Prizes and awards . 61 our community Visitors & 65 Support 123 research collaborations Grants . 124 Visitors to JCSMR . .66 Statistics . 130 Research collaborations . .70 Donors . 131 The John Curtin School of Medical Research Annual Review 2009 1 The John Curtin School of Medical Research From the Director “It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” Robert H . Goddard, 1904 There has never been a time such as this for a “fair go” – it is eminently feasible to fulfill one’s potential today, at least in countries like Australia. For those with the motivation and determination, the possibilities are limitless. However, a major obstacle remains between each one of us and a bright future: illness. My sister Fabiola and I in 1964, a few weeks before she died of cancer . When cancer, lupus, blindness, depression, diabetes, SARS, AIDS, alcoholism, or a heart attack hit, lives are devastated, tremendous human and economic potential is wasted, and bright futures never materialise. How can we begin to address the immense personal, social, and fiscal burden of disease in Australia? Only by understanding the causes and mechanisms of illness can effective prevention and new cures be developed. The process of medical discovery is absolutely essential and it is at places like The John Curtin School of Medical Research that the frontiers of existing medical knowledge are pushed. We are exceptionally well poised to prosper in this exciting new decade. When I started my medical research career at the United States National Institutes of Health in the late 1980’s, the approach of the day was to look at smaller and smaller areas with increasing depth and brute force technology in the hope of unraveling the most fundamental mechanisms that would pave the way for purposefully designed cures. That approach was the foundation for many disease-specific medical research institutes that are so abundant in the Australia of today. I shall never forget a Nobel Prize winner smirking as he replied to a question I asked in the early 1990’s about integrative work and proudly defended his “reductionistic” approach to medical research. Time sadly proved me right: reductionism failed us big time. New discoveries done in a reductionstic context have only marginally improved the plight of the seriously ill; moreover, the astronomical costs of healthcare go up faster than the country’s ability to cover them. It is currently thought that major breakthroughs require work that integrates various levels of knowledge and 2 The John Curtin School of Medical Research Annual Review 2009 is built across academic disciplines. Having in one, state-of the art, School several critical areas of medical research such as immunology, neuroscience, genomics, virology, structural biology, and translational medicine prospering side by side puts us in a very competitive position to develop cross-disciplinary work that can lead to groundbreaking new discoveries. Discovery is the start of an exciting pathway towards health. But in this trajectory, as is often the case in our lives, the promise of a bright start is tempered by the realities of a perilous journey. Very few new drugs are currently reaching the market. In the last four years a major international drug company launched only one new drug, with modest success. We live in an era that has witnessed the paucity of effective translation from discovery into cures or new treatments. It is recognised that the cottage-industry process of translation, done in a fragmented manner by various areas of medicine is a qualified failure. From the ashes of the unfulfilled dreams of new cures, the discipline of translational medicine has recently emerged as a new area of academic medicine aimed at developing a systematic body of knowledge and a cadre of dedicated experts that can make the pathway from discovery to health more effective. My strategic goals as Director of The John Curtin School of Medical Research are twofold: to advocate for and foster the process of medical discovery, while simultaneously nurturing the development of translational medicine as a bona fide medical specialty. In that regard, we have set up specialised programs in translational medicine as a new academic discipline. In the week of 16-20 August 2010 we had thirty-three lectures that covered the entire pathway from bench discovery to bedside, clinical trials, commercialisation, development of evidence-based healthcare guidelines, policy, and global health. Those began with the program around the award of the Curtin Medal to Professor Samuel Gershon (University of Pittsburgh, USA) on 16 August 2010. That was immediately followed by the highly successful Bootes Course on Translational Medicine: The Pathway from Discovery to Healthcare (17-20 August 2010), which was a precursor to our forthcoming Master’s Program in Translational Medicine, the first graduate degree program in translational medicine in the Asia-Pacific region (starting in the second semester of 2011). Additionally, on 30 August 2010 we hosted “Translation Research on the Brain: Accelerating the Pathway from Discovery to Healthcare,” as a First Annual National Conference at JCSMR. We were privileged to have presentations by academic leaders from across Australia; Baroness Susan Greenfield, University of Oxford, was the keynote speaker. To further advance this field worldwide, we have conceptualised and organised at JCSMR the First International Conference on Translational Medicine that brings together on 1-4 November 2010 different types of domestic initiatives on translational science. We have in the program experts from the USA to present the American/CTSA perspective (Clay Johnston, UCSF; Carlos Pato, USC; Anantha Shekhar, Indiana), from the United Kingdom and Ireland to discuss the evolution of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) concept in those countries (Dame Sally Davies, NHS; Alastair Buchan, Oxford; Stephen Smith, The John Curtin School of Medical Research Annual Review 2009 3 Imperial College; William Powderly, Dublin), from China to highlight their rapidly evolving translational landscape (Jun Wang, BGI-China and Lin He, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University), from Singapore (Alain van Gool, Merck and Ranga Krishnan, Duke-NUS), from NIH (Alan Schechter and Anthony Hayward), from the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Leming Shi), and from Australia (Bruce Singh, University of Melbourne; Steve Wesselingh, Monash University; Bruce Robinson, University of Sydney; Colleen Nelson, Queensland University of Technology). Sir Gustav Nossal will present the John Curtin Lecture in Medical Research, “Translational Research as a Key to Global Health.” With this stellar group of speakers, who have never been brought together in one setting, we can contrast and compare different approaches to foster translational medicine across the globe. This JCSMR initiative will be of great benefit to Australia: it is critical to understand and learn what others across the world are doing in this area as we hopefully set the course for future large initiatives in translational medicine in this country. I would like to end this introduction to our Annual Report by announcing the forthcoming launch of our new fund raising and awareness campaign: Project Australia for Medical Discovery and Translational Science. This new JCSMR initiative will dispel the misguided concept that we can invest minimally and just be opportunistic, capitalising on what comes up without substantial planning or expenditure. The entire scientific community disagrees with such a simple-minded perspective: a very organised, consistent, systematic and carefully planned effort is necessary to bring about medical discovery that is effectively translated into new cures. Based at ANU, we are well positioned to launch a national, Australia-wide project to foster discovery and to develop – as the new medical science discipline of translational medicine – the roadmap from scientific breakthrough to new cures and improved health in Australia and the world. Please continue to visit our website to stay updated on this and other JCSMR activities. Professor Julio Licinio Director The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) Project Australia for Medical Discovery and Translational Science A fund raising and awareness campaign The John Curtin School of Medical Research The Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

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