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Associate Professor Alex Swarbrick presented at the Adelaide Medical School Distinguished Speaker Series 2022
Associate Professor Alex Swarbrick, Senior Principal Research Fellow and co-leader of the Strategic program in Dynamic Cancer Ecosystems, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney presented a seminar entitled "Solid tumours as cellular ecosystems: new insights into disease stratification and treatment", on 7 April, 2022, in the AHMS Building, University of Adelaide. The seminar covered how new technologies, including single cell sequencing and high-dimensionality tissue analysis, are enabling new insights into cancer ecosystems, leading to advances in the stratification and treatment of solid cancers. A/Prof Swarbrick is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in how cells in developing embryos control the decision to divide or to differentiate in co-ordination with cell cycle events, as well as how this co-ordination is subverted in cancers. The seminar was hosted by Prof Wayne Tilley, DRMCRL Director.
Prof Tilley contributes to the US Prostate Cancer Foundation Retreat: State of Science Report.
Research from Prof Tilley’s laboratory on “Nuclear receptor biology in castration resistant prostate cancer” was presented at the 28th Annual Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) Scientific Retreat, Carlsbad, USA in November, 2021. In a session that focused on nuclear receptor biology, including the role of GR in CRPC and its potential as a therapeutic target, as well as the impact of AR agonism in prostate cancer and ER-positive breast cancer, Prof Tilley presented data that suggested a role for potent AR agonists and that warranted further study into the potential for selective AR modulators in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. His paper formed part of the PCF’s State of Science Report. In addition, the PCF Retreat Scientific Meeting Report will be published in the scientific journal, The Prostate.
DRMCRL Visiting Professor Iggo publishes on breast cancer organoid and intraductal models
Professor Richard Iggo, Professor of Cell Biology, University of Bordeaux / Visiting Professor, University of Adelaide has published the methodology, currently utilised at the DRMCRL, for creating breast cancer models by transducing tumor cells and normal mammary epithelial cells with lentiviral vectors in organoid culture and injecting them into the mammary ducts of mice. This article entitled "Modeling breast cancer in organoid and intraductal models" was published in Mammary Stem Cells, a Methods in Molecular Biology book series, and describes the protocols to create estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and androgen receptor positive (AR+) breast cancer models by combining organoid culture with mammary intraductal injection. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2193-6_13
DRMCRL celebrates International Women’s Day 2022
The ladies of the DRMCRL came together to celebrate 2022 International Women’s Day on March 8, and this year we welcomed newcomers Dr Katherine Morel, postdoctoral researcher and Maliha Wajahat, PhD student. Also joining us on the day was Allegra Freelander, a visiting researcher from our collaborator’s lab (Prof Elgene Lim) at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the stunning Adelaide Botanic Garden and the tours run by the University of Adelaide External Relations team as part of the International Women’s Day 2002 event. https://twitter.com/drmcrl/status/1501132807841927169
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DRMCRL researchers attend 34th Annual Lorne Cancer Conference 2022
Professor Wayne Tilley, Associate Professor Theresa Hickey and Dr Amy Dwyer attended the 2022 Annual Lorne Cancer Conference (https://www.lornecancer.org/) held at the Mantra Lorne. Assoc Prof Hickey gave a first session talk on "The androgen receptor as a therapeutic target in breast cancer", and Amy gave a Flash Talk on "High throughput cell morphology-based drug-screens in breast and prostate cancer reveals novel AR agonists". Both presentations were very well received.
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Congratulations Amy Dwyer, recipient of a 2022 NBCF Fellowship!
DRMCRL postdoctoral scientist, Dr Amy Dwyer has been awarded a 2022 National Breast Cancer Foundation Investigator Initiated Research Scheme (NBCF IIRS) Fellowship. This four year Fellowship enables Amy to undertake her research on "Reprogramming the estrogen receptor to eradicate endocrine-resistant breast cancer". Well done Amy!
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Wenjun Liu awarded scholarship for BioInfoSummer 2021
DRMCRL PhD student Wenjun Liu was awarded a scholarship by the Australian Mathematical Science Institute (AMSI) to attend and present at BioInfoSummer 2021. This four-day (29 Nov – 2 Dec 2021) hybrid symposium was held across event hubs at The University of Adelaide, The University of Melbourne, Curtin University, James Cook University and UNSW. Participants explored bioinformatics under the themes: High Performance Computing for Bioinformatics; Computational Methods in Human Genomic Health; Metagenomics and Long Reads. Wenjun presented her ePoster entitled "RNA-seq regulatory network inference revealed an association between transcription factor SETX and neurogenerative pathways under prolonged autophagy induction" at the conference, which can be found here: https://bis.amsi.org.au/eposters/
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Excellence in research publication award to Assoc Prof Theresa Hickey
The Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences Research Committee (University of Adelaide) have awarded Dr Theresa Hickey a Publication Excellence Award 2021 for the paper published this year in Nature Medicine (Hickey et al; 27, 310-320) entitled "The androgen receptor is a tumor suppressor in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer". Targeting the androgen receptor (AR) in breast cancer has been of intense clinical interest over the past two decades, but widespread controversy existed over whether to use an agonist or antagonist strategy. This publication definitively shows that AR is a tumour suppressor in estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, the most prevalent form, and that an agonist, not an antagonist, strategy exerts potent anti-tumour activity in multiple disease contexts, including disease resistant to all forms of standard-of-care therapy. The immediate global response (62 global news outlets; Altmetrics score 485) are testament to the outstanding quality of this research. Based on the preclinical studies in this paper, a phase III international clinical trial (VERU; ARTEST) commenced in July 2021.
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Congratulations Wenjun Liu - 2021 Florey Postgraduate Research Conference prize recipient
The Florey Postgraduate Research Conference, held on 22 September at the Adelaide Convention Centre, was a highlight for the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Faculty showcasing outstanding research activity. DRMCRL PhD student Wenjun (Nora) Liu was awarded the Peter Couche Foundation Prize for her poster presentation of her Masters work on "Transcriptional targets of senataxin are associated with perturbed neuro-degenerative pathways under prolonged autophagy induction". Well done Nora! The conference, now in its 15th year, gives HDR students the opportunity to discuss their research with fellow students, academics, industry partners, and other major stakeholders of the University. It is a chance to recognise excellent in research, hear from distinguished speakers on specialised topics, and beneficial to HDR students for ongoing professional and personal development. 2021 Florey Postgraduate Conference prize list here
Another DRMCRL student awarded PhD degree – Congratulations Reza Alizadeh Ghodsi!
Mohammadreza (Reza), our final student from the “2017 PhD quartet”, has been awarded a doctoral degree for his work on "Extreme activation of androgen receptor for prostate cancer therapy". Reza will continue prostate cancer research as a postdoc at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre in Seattle, USA, in the laboratory of Dr Peter Nelson whose interests are in exploiting cancer genomics and the tumor microenvironment to guide oncology treatment. All the best and well done Reza!
[Read more about Another DRMCRL student awarded PhD degree – Congratulations Reza Alizadeh Ghodsi! ]
