ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Contents Introduction ..................................................................3 Mission Who we are, what we do Garvan’s aspirations Reports ..........................................................................4 Chairman’s report ...........................................................4 Executive Director’s report ............................................5 Garvan Research Foundation Chairman’s report ...........6 The Organisation .........................................................7 Garvan at a Glance ......................................................8 The year at a glance .......................................................8 Philanthropic income ......................................................8 Staff and student profile ................................................9 Scientific publications ....................................................9 Public and community engagement ..............................9 Research Divisions and Centre .................................10 Bone Biology .................................................................10 Cancer ..........................................................................14 Diabetes and Metabolism ............................................18 Immunology .................................................................22 Neuroscience ...............................................................26 Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics ........................30 Governance .................................................................35 Garvan Institute of Medical Research ..........................35 Garvan Research Foundation .......................................39 Leaders in Science Seminars ....................................42 Garvan Community ...................................................44 Life Governors ..............................................................44 Partners for the Future .................................................44 Volunteers .....................................................................44 2014 supporters ...........................................................45 Young Garvan supporters .............................................47 Love Your Sister ...........................................................47 Bequests ......................................................................47 Peer Reviewed Funding ............................................48 Financial Highlights ...................................................50 Income statement ........................................................50 Balance sheet ...............................................................51 2 Mission The mission of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research is to make significant contributions to medical research that will change the directions of science and medicine and have major impacts on human health. Who we are, what we do Garvan pioneers studies into For more than 50 years, significant • Osteoporosis some of the most widespread breakthroughs have been achieved • Immunological diseases such diseases affecting our by Garvan scientists in the as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis community. Research at Garvan understanding and treatment of and multiple sclerosis. is focused upon understanding diseases such as: the role of molecular and cellular Garvan’s ultimate goal is • Cancer processes in health and disease prevention, treatment or cure of as the basis for developing • Diabetes and obesity these major diseases. future preventions, treatments • Neurological diseases such and cures. Garvan is leading the as Alzheimer’s disease, nation in using genomic analysis Parkinson’s disease, hearing to accelerate discovery and loss, mental illnesses and enable precision medicine. eating disorders Garvan’s aspirations • To become the most advanced osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, • To embrace and uphold institute in the region in the and immunological, skeletal a culture of collegiality, adoption, application and and neurological diseases, and collaboration, inclusivity, integration of next generation influence health policy. consideration, safety, genomic and computational transparency and high • To attract, develop and approaches and technologies ethical standards. support exceptionally talented in investigative and researchers with leading • To engage stakeholders and translational research. edge programs addressing the community with our • To advance knowledge in our key conceptual and practical achievements and research key areas of focus that will questions in human biology, vision so that we attract the lead to better understanding, and the translation of new significant government and donor reduced incidence and knowledge and technologies support needed to empower our improved treatments for cancer, into clinical applications. transformative agenda. GARVAN 3 Chairman’s Report Garvan Institute of Medical Research Before I accepted the invitation to become the Chair of the Board of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, disease avoidance and mitigation, leading to I naturally undertook due diligence far better health for individuals and society, about the Institute and its people. with many benefits to our economy and I was impressed. quality of life. However, my due diligence was inadequate. Recognising the importance for NSW and I had underestimated the quality of Garvan’s Australia, this potential has attracted $24m in staff. What I also discovered is that Garvan NSW Government support for leading-edge leads the nation and is among the leaders of programs that can take advantage of KCCG’s the world in the development and application infrastructure. These include sequencing of genomic technologies in medical research populations that have survived to old age and clinical translation. The pace of change without any of the common problems, is exhilarating. Just over a decade ago it including cognitive decline, and identifying cost more than a billion dollars to sequence wellness factors, as well as identifying the human genome. This year the US inherited cancer risk. A number of projects company that leads the field, Illumina, chose are also underway with clinicians around the Garvan to be one of the first centres in the state to investigate the genetic contributions world to acquire the technology capable of to schizophrenia, melanoma, mitochondrial sequencing human genomes for a base cost disease and congenital heart disease, among of US$1,000. many others to come. This choice reflected respect for the I encourage all readers to go to Garvan’s Australian healthcare system and medical website to learn more about KCCG and to research capability, and for the leadership at explore the range of outstanding research Garvan which understands that genomics and researchers that we are fortunate to is not only essential to understanding have at Garvan. human disease, but also that it is ready for the clinic. To this end, with the generous I would also like to thank a number of support of The Kinghorn Foundation, Garvan Board members, who retired or resigned was able to purchase the Illumina HiSeq in 2014, namely Jonathan Anderson, John XTen sequencing system which is capable Horvath AO, Warren Scott, Greg Paramor of sequencing more than 300 genomes AO and Lisa McIntyre, for their outstanding every week. Garvan also established the contributions to Garvan over many years. Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics I would also like to welcome our new (KCCG), with the analytical pipelines required Board Members Helen Nugent AO, Patricia to assemble and interpret the avalanche of O’Rourke and Anthony Schembri. new information. Dr John Schubert AO KCCG now has more than 30 staff and is developing wonderful collaborations with clinicians and scientists around the country This choice reflected respect for the and beyond to explore the genetic basis of Australian healthcare system and “ illness. This includes inherited and acquired medical research capability, and for the genetic disabilities, cancer diagnosis and leadership at Garvan which understands “that genomics is not only essential to adverse drug reactions among others. Personal genome sequencing will become understanding human disease, but also the norm in the not-too-distant future and that it is ready for the clinic. incorporated into healthcare, focused on 4 We continue to strengthen our relationships with UNSW Australia and with our partners Executive on the Darlinghurst precinct, including St Vincent’s Hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, working strategically to build critical mass and Director’s capability in medical research and translation into clinical practice, as well as training opportunities for students. In January 2014 we also launched a revamped website (www.garvan.org.au), Report which has enhanced content. The website offers virtual tours of our facilities and links to a number of social media platforms that we are increasingly using to communicate 2014 was a year of growth and renewal. our activities and achievements. I came to Garvan three years ago with the intention of transforming Our researchers had another successful the Institute into the first of the next- year in obtaining peer-reviewed grant and generation medical research institutes fellowship support, with Garvan once again that places understanding human among the best performing institutions genomic information at the centre of its in the nation. However many challenges research and translational endeavours. remain