Annual Report 2011 / 2012 stemcellsaustralia.edu.au “In a swiftly changing landscape, Stem Cells Australia places the Australian scientific community at the world’s leading edge of research in this important field.” —Professor David de Kretser Chairman Supported by: Our Partners: Cover image courtesy Ms Frisca (PhD student), CERA UoM 3 STEM CELLS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012 CONTENTS Chairman’s Report 4 Program Leader’s Report 6 Highlights 8 Research Program 10 Education, Ethics, Legal and Community Awareness Unit 18 Performance 21 Governance 28 Our People 33 Publications 44 Awards and Scholarships 55 Conference Participation 56 Media Coverage 63 Financial Statement 65 Image courtesy Dr Andrew Prowse, AIBN, UoQ stemcellsaustralia.edu.au 4 STEM CELLS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012 Chairman’s Report Stem Cells Australia (SCA) is a Special Research Initiative in stem cell sciences funded by the Australian Research Council that brings together leading researchers in this field from across the country. Led by the University To promote interactions and information of Melbourne, this sharing between researchers and collaboration includes participating members, Stem Cells Australia scientists from the has established a website and quarterly University of Queensland, newsletter, facilitating access to the most the University of New recent findings and upcoming conferences South Wales, the and workshops. Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2012 also saw the establishment of our core Sydney, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute facilities, providing services to the scientific of Medical Research, the Florey Institute of research community. These include: Neuroscience and Mental Health, Monash • Stemformatics - a collaboration between University, and the CSIRO Material Science the stem cell and bioinformatics Division in Clayton. communities based at the University of Stem Cells Australia has made strong Queensland. Stemformatics provides progress since our formal launch by the a fast way for biologists to find and former CEO of the Australian Research visualise interesting genes. Council, Professor Margaret Shiel, on 10 • StemCore laboratories, also based at November 2011. the University of Queensland, provides support for pluripotent stem cell culture During 2012, the foundations for for our Queensland and NSW-based interdisciplinary research into stem cell researchers. science were developed which included • At the Melbourne Brain Centre - in the understanding the potential roles of stem heart of Parkville’s biological sciences cells in a range of intractable diseases precinct - Stem Cells Australia provides arising from cell damage such as in purpose-built core facilities in Flow Parkinson’s disease, following the death of Cytometry and pluripotent stem cell cardiac muscle cells due to interruption of culture for use by our members and other their blood supply following occlusion of interested researchers. the coronary arteries as occurs in a heart attack, and damage to nerve cells in the Stem Cells Australia core researchers secured spinal cord from traumatic injury as well as $1.5 million in international research funding a host of other very real and debilitating in 2012. These efforts at building international diseases. collaboration were supported by: To maximize the interactions and to • a Department of Foreign Affairs and develop tangible outcomes, a framework Trade (DFAT) grant to foster collaborative for governance was established in 2012. workshops with Kyoto University’s This was critical given that the number of Institute for Integrated Cell-Material researchers participating in the consortium Sciences (iCeMS), and: has nearly doubled, increasing during • the initiation of a relationship with the year from 60 to over 120, with an Canada’s Centre for Commercialization involvement in 20 projects across four key of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) via a areas of stem cell science. Translation of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Science Roundtable, co-hosted by Stem Cells Australia and the Canadian Trade Commission. stemcellsaustralia.edu.au 5 STEM CELLS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012 “Stem cell science is an extremely fast moving field of research with new breakthroughs being reported on an almost daily basis.” In 2013, Stem Cells Australia will finalise our strategic and operational plan. As part of this, a strategic fund has been established to enhance collaboration between partners on highly innovative new directions in stem cell science. This flexibility is essential to enable rapid responses to enable the consortium to have access to the latest reagents, techniques and equipment. The award of the first round of strategic funding to our partners, will be made on criteria to be announced shortly through our website. A category of affiliate memberships UoM CERA (PhD student), Ms Frisca Image courtesy was also established in 2012, and we look forward to announcing new affiliate memberships over the coming year, as well welcoming more visiting international fellows. Stem cell science is an extremely fast moving field of research with new breakthroughs being reported on an almost daily basis. In a swiftly changing landscape, Stem Cells Australia places the Australian scientific community at the world’s leading edge of research in this important field. I commend Stem Cells Australia’s work to you. Professor David de Kretser Chairman stemcellsaustralia.edu.au 6 STEM CELLS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012 Program Leader’s Report Stem cell research and regenerative medicine is a rapidly growing field that is now reaching application in the clinic, as new cell therapies enter early stage trials. Human stem cells are also During our first years of operation, SCA coming into wide use as researchers have contributed to major a key research platform scientific studies published inCell, Cell Stem for disease modeling, Cell, Nature Biotechnology, Immunity, and functional genomics, the Journal of Cell Biology. Some of the and drug discovery. key advances include the characterization Stem Cells Australia of genetic and epigenetic stability of aims to keep Australian human pluripotent stem cells, molecular science on the forefront of this revolution in mechanisms of cell reprogramming, biomedicine. efficient methodology for differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into neural Research in the Stem Cells Australia cells, discovery of stem cells in the heart, consortium focuses on four areas of stem and novel pathways for regulation of blood cell biology: cell formation. • pluripotent stem cells, or stem cells that can turn into any tissue in the body Inside this annual report you will find more detailed information on our publications • regeneration and repair in the brain in peer-reviewed journals, presentations • regeneration and repair in the heart at international meetings and our visiting • the hematopoietic system, which international fellows. In our first 18 months, generates the cells of the blood we have 24 postgraduate students associated with SCA’s core research Coupled to these four biological themes are projects, including direct support of 14 platform technologies in bioengineering, PhD students. We secured philanthropic nanotechnology and material sciences, and funding of $90,000 dollars for a Science bioinformatics, headed by international and Society scholarship, to study public leaders in these fields. This multidisciplinary perceptions of stem cell therapy. approach provides our researchers with powerful new approaches to tackle both the We held a workshop with the Center fundamental and practical challenges that for Commercialization of Regenerative we face in this field. We are now expanding Medicine, an initiative of the Canadian our network of scientists through the Stem Cell Network, to explore collaborative appointment of Affiliate Members, who are opportunities for translation and experts currently collaborating with our commercialization. We also hosted a visit investigators, or working in closely related by representatives from the Institute for fields. We plan to establish a new focus Integrated Cell Materials Science at the on morphogenesis (assembly of cells into University of Kyoto and secured funding to organs) and tissue engineering, areas that support the development of a more formal are on the frontier of stem cell biology. collaboration. “...our network of interdisciplinary researchers is well placed to make the breakthroughs that will raise Australia’s profile to one of international leadership in the field”. stemcellsaustralia.edu.au 7 STEM CELLS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012 Image courtesy Ms Frisca (PhD student), CERA UoM Congratulations to Professor Douglas Hilton We have developed resources on stem cell for his Australian Museum Eureka award for therapies for GPs. During National Science Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers, Week we co-hosted an event with Quantum and to Dr Kylie Greig on receiving an Victoria (streamed live), we also worked NHMRC CJ Martin Overseas Biomedical with the Spinal Cord Injury Network, and Fellowship. Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Australia patient forums. In addition to research, we participate in a range of activities to advance stem cell Stem Cells Australia has been a key science. Over 2012, Stem Cells Australia has resource for patient support, with more fostered inter-institutional collaborations via than 450 direct patient enquiries and over theme workshops within our consortium. 20,000 unique visitors to our website. We