Connected Conversations | Mark Hutchinson

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. 

My name is Professor Mark Hutchinson and I wear many hats. I am a professor in the Adelaide Medical School, I am the head of the Neuroimmunopharmacology Laboratory, I hold an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, I am the Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) and I am President-elect of Science and Technology Australia (STA).

My research team in the Neuroimmunopharmacology Laboratory is exploring the ‘other brain’ or the other 90% of the cells within the brain and spinal cord, termed ‘glia’, and their role in health and disease. These fascinating cells provide a molecular language portal for events in our environment or in the periphery to change brain function. Importantly, this can go both ways as well, so how we think can change how we behave. The easiest example to conceptualise this is to reflect back to the last time you were sick. How did you feel? How did being sick change your physical and cognitive abilities? These changes in function are manifestations of the mind-body connection that involve the bi-directional immune to brain communication. This communication system is critical to multiple functions during health and disease. Therefore, knowing how this system functions and what the glial cells are doing is of critical importance. Of specific interest to my team is persistent pain, how it is created and maintained, and the role that these immune-like cells play in created this long-term problem. 

Within the CNBP, we are exploring how new light-based measurement technologies can be used to understand and measure activity of the ‘other brain’. Advances in this area are giving rise to objective measurements of pain, such that pain state of children and animals may be measured. This is also allowing us to fast-track the development of new pain medicines for human and animal use.

Collectively, the Neuroimmunopharmacology Laboratory and the CNBP attract significant external funding from as far and wide as Meat and Livestock Australia to the USA Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Science and Technology Australia is Australia’s peak body in science and technology. We represent more than 80,000 scientists and technologists. STA is an influential voice for evidence and expertise in public policy. Our mission is to advance the public good and social and community welfare, and strengthen civil society, through education, outreach and programs. We do so to advance the impact of science and technology to help solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges, including saving and improving lives. We bring together scientists, scientific societies, governments, industry and the broader community. As President-elect in 2021 and President for 2022-23, I will seek to advance the mission of STA and its members to create a fully-funded and integrated research sector in Australia.

What was your first area of study and what drew you to this space?

I started with a Bachelor of Science and then Honours in Pharmacology both at the University of Adelaide. I was fascinated by the way small molecule drugs interact with receptors and enzymes to change the function of biological systems. This evolved into a fascination of the brain and how these molecular events at a cellular level work in concert to bring us consciousness. What drives me today is the fact that we still don’t have the complete picture of major parts of what drives and maintains health and disease.

What has been your journey to get where you are today? 

After finishing my PhD, I worked as a lab manager and a clinical trials manager before landing a postdoctoral researcher position in the USA. Working in Colorado with Professor Linda Watkins and Professor Steve Maier was an amazing experience. Being able to maintain this collaboration upon returning to Australia allowed me to fast-track a range of research areas. Throughout my research, I have maintained close industry connections, which has meant I have spent significant time in and around industry and government labs. Working hand-in-hand with industry has changed the way I see research and impact. I don’t just want a paper from my research. I want to see true translational impact. This means we need to move our bench science from gathering dust on bookshelves and even moving beyond trials at the bedside. We need to make our work ready for boardrooms. This boardroom-ready science takes a lot of work and scientific skill that we have yet to completely support or master in Australia. 

What are you working on now?

The research projects my team are working on during 2021 are diverse: 

1. We will be working with Defence Science Technology Group on human biotechnologies and real-time measurement of human performance.

2. The team will be developing novel pain mitigation strategies for sheep, combined with objective pain measurement technologies that will allow us to ask the questions: ‘Are you in pain?’ ‘How much pain are you in?’ and ‘Have you ever had pain?’

3. In collaboration with Vanderbilt University, we will be exploring novel ways to control neuronal function via light-based immune modulation.

4. In collaboration with Kansas State University, we are quantifying biomarkers of pain in beef cattle and pigs.

5. Together with a range of international collaborators, we are validating the specificity and sensitivity of our human pain quantification technology.

6. Under the MRFF funded Brain In A Dish (BIAD) project, we are screening drugs for novel treatments for Sanfilippo disease.

7. And plenty of other projects exploring immune involvement in health and disease…

 What do you love most about working at the University of Adelaide? 

I love working with and being part of the amazing team. We have worked hard on building a convergent science culture. The crazy ideas that are floated and tested are simply mind-blowing. We are doing some pretty extraordinary stuff here in Adelaide that can’t be done anywhere else in the world. Why? Because the capability doesn’t exist anywhere else, and the team are here. 

What opportunities do you see for the future? 

I am really excited to see our science move from the bench to the boardroom. We have already seen a range of our tech spun out and actually used. The more I see my team doing this the better because it will mean we have positively impacted the lives of people in our community.

What are the top three most defining moments of the past year for you?

2020 was really hard. But there were some really great things to come out of it.

Firstly, I have become really closely connected to interstate colleagues more than ever. This is more than just work. We supported each other through some pretty tough times in the past year. 

Another big thing last year was establishing the National Livestock Wellbeing Seminar Series and seeing how an integrated convergence science program brought together different disciplines, industry and government into a regular forum to learn about great new science.

And finally, it was pretty exciting to be elected as President-elect for STA. I am really looking forward to what I am able to contribute to this role and to see what opportunities it opens up.

What inspired you to pursue a career in health?

I am fascinated by how biology works, and I wanted to have an impact on the wide prevalence of pain in the world. The exciting and, at the same time, scary thing about working in health is how much we don’t yet know. So, if you are looking for a continual challenge, then working in health will continue to present a multitude of questions about health and disease.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I don’t really consider any time I have as spare. I like to engage in everything to the fullest. So, when I am not working, I really try to not work, and I make the specific time to dedicate to my friends and family. I find this a really important step to stop work creeping into every corner of my life. So, my non-work time I spend with my family and friends enjoying Adelaide and South Australia. My favourite Saturday afternoon activity is sitting in a beer garden or outside a restaurant, enjoying the company of those around me.

How do you relax or switch off?

Since living in Boulder, Colorado I have loved cycling and running. But, I don’t get time to go on the road anymore, so I jump on the smart trainer and the smart treadmill and exercise in the virtual worlds that I used to play in when overseas. It is when I am exercising that I find the stresses of the day fall away and I get some ‘me time’.

Which destination is at the top of your list of places to go when international travel returns to normal?

Two places — back to Boulder, Colorado and Rotoma, New Zealand. These are two places that have had long-term significance to me.